


Endure The Night

by Ultimate MadLad (andpeggylovescrofters)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: All The Protagonists Are Siblings, Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, Alternate Universe - No Ultimate Talents (Dangan Ronpa), Aquaphobia, Because of Reasons, Cause hopes peak isn't a thing, Gen, Ha hope, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I can't believe that wasn't the first tag I put, I'll miss them, I'll stop making silly tags now, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Still Bad At Tagging, Implied Relationships, It'll make sense, No beta we die like wwx, Oh yea, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Spoilers, Sadly, Shuichi is the ultimate danganronpa fan, Slow To Update, They have a dog and he's named after Kiibo, Togami Byakuya Being An Asshole, Togami Byakuya is Bad at Feelings, Ultimate Academy For Gifted Juveniles, Update Schedule? Who she?, Well it's a PMMM AU, What am I doing, everyone's still good at their stuff just hopes peak is fictional in this universe, hopefully, i guess it's a bit pregame?, if that's a trigger, it's complicated - Freeform, let's hope this goes well, wait Kaede isn't an egg child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 24,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andpeggylovescrofters/pseuds/Ultimate%20MadLad
Summary: This had to be the worst day of Byakuya's life.Sure he'd done this before but listening to his father drone on about responsibilities and appearances for the millionth time would never get any less torturous.He was to begin at a new school today, something about a new base of operations he had to supervise and best school in the area and something else, and (if you can't tell by the evident lack of joy on his face) he's ecstatic.He sighed as he stood up, bidding his father farewell as he made his way to the school building,He was early.He smiled softly, "he" would say it was a perfect time to make friends, but no. He had one job and one job only and he was determined to complete it flawlessly,After all, one would expect no less from a Togami; isn't that correct?Hello humans, this is future!author here! I wanted to do something to make up for my absence in January 2021 so (along with chapter 12) I'll slowly but surely editing every chapter and adding bonus scenes for just better overall quality. Don't feel pressured to read them though, the bonus scenes don't add too much so you won't miss a lot if you ignore them.
Relationships: Asahina Aoi & Kirigiri Kyoko, Asahina Aoi & Maizono Sayaka, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Naegi Makoto/Togami Byakuya, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. Ephialtes

**Author's Note:**

> {}{}{}{}{}  
> Hello!  
> The title is from the English translation of the PMMM intro (yOu SiT oN a ThRoNe oF lIeS). If you recognise this - it's the same person (so hello).  
> This is technically my first proper fanfic so I apologise if the writing is bad or the characters are slightly (or completely, that's always an option) out of character, I promise it'll get better the further in you read as I gain more experience!  
> Criticism is welcome and wanted!  
> Thank you for clicking on my fanfic!  
> I hope you enjoy this!  
> See you at the end notes if you want to!  
> {}{}{}{}{}

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He'd had nightmares before, but never one like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are here, the legendary dream (as eloquently named by my notes)!  
> The word of the chapter (I feel like a teacher, hello students) is ephialtes! It means nightmare and also happens to be a demon incubus (a sex demon) and a guy who **betrayed** the Spartans for his own **personal gain**  
>  (I did not know these meanings of the word prior to writing this part and choosing the word but, I like this meaning XD)  
> I hope you enjoy it!
> 
>  **Hello humans, this is future!author here! I wanted to do something to make up for my absence in January so (along with chapter 12) I'll slowly but surely editing every chapter and adding bonus scenes for just better overall quality. This chapter gets bonus Amaguji because there isn't enough Amaguji content on this planet goddamnit :(. Nothing much was changed this time, just some grammar and the bonus scene but expect a completely different chapter 2 because Mellow is my least favourite part XD! Don't feel pressured to read them though, the bonus scenes don't add too much so you won't miss a lot if you ignore them.** I added the last bit to the main summary since I realised you don't get the chapter notes in the email (-u- : )

ephialtes

Noun

(plural ephialtes)

(obsolete) an incubus; a nightmare

  * By cancelling the political power of the Areopagus and multiplying the functions of the popular law-courts, **Ephialtes** abolished the last checks upon the sovereignty of the commons.



\- _ - _ - _ - _ - _ -

Makoto ran down the empty hall, his breaths heavy as he forced himself down the corridor.

Naegi didn't know what he was running from or where he was running to, the boy just knew that he needed to run; so run he did. 

It was dark, the walls void of colour and the winding corridors led him to dead-end upon dead-end. The shadows seemed to follow him as he fled the grasps of the creature creeping behind him. The never-ending maze of pristine tiles on the floors, that seemed to wind on endlessly. He ran around corner and corner, his struggle becoming more evident the farther he pushed; until he reached a landing.

This room was different, a glowing fire escape sign stood at the top of a set of stairs - painting a green hue across the monochrome room. Illuminating the black and white cavern with its glowing beauty.

It was hypnotic.

He felt its drag take over his body, let it lead him up the stairs and push his way through a door, let it reveal the remains of the world to his unprepared eyes. He felt the horror rush over him like he was thrown into a bath of ice with nothing but thin cotton to protect him. He saw the desolate landscape, monochrome and void of life. Despair thick in the air. Strange paint-like splotches floated in the air - their pink colour almost blinding in the darkness of the destruction. A broken statue, with a face to monstrous for him to comprehend, that accompanied it all.

He saw him, guns in hand, dust and debris covering his clothing, as he flew towards the creature. His blond hair a frizzy mess and his, originally white, suit a murky grey. He saw him, take on hit after hit as he tried to fight back - clearly overpowered but trying his best nevertheless - and a horrified gasp left his mouth,

"It can't be helped." an overconfident voice came from behind him, it was almost ethereal in its god-like quality. Booming behind him in its omnipotence, but immature and silly. 

He turned towards the voice, a small black and white bear with a red eye and a wide grin. It wasn't the most appealing of creatures, it's more demonic appearance made it almost scary, but it grew on you quickly. It wasn't much larger than a teddy bear and looked cuddly and huggable. Its soft appearance seemed out of place in the destruction of the landscape.

It didn't seem natural.

"It's too much for him to handle on his own," it continued, gesturing towards the blond "but he knew that this might happen."

As if to prove the bear's point, the boy was thrown back against a wall, his breath leaving his lungs as he gasped. Makoto couldn't bear watch further; he threw up his hands against his face and tried to pretend it wasn't happening.

"This is horrible! It shouldn't be happening!" He mumbled to the bear, his voice trembling from emotions he couldn't even understand. He slowly lifted his hands from his face, maybe to confirm what was happening was real or if he had made it all up in a sick nightmare of thoughts, to find the boy staring straight at him. He seemed to shout something, but Makoto couldn't hear him. He seemed desperate and angry, screaming at him forceful instructions he couldn't hear and before he could begin to think about it the bear spoke again,

"If you give up everything will be over," it said, it's grin never faulting, wide and sickening - like the Cheshire Cat - as it explained, "you have the power to change fate."

Makoto stared at the bear in disbelief - there was no way someone as ordinary as he could possibly be of help in this situation. Absolutely none. 

"This unavoidable destruction, this despair - you can change it all. That's why you have this power."

He turned his attention back to the boy, he fell into the bottomless abyss that was the ruins of the city, still screaming at him as he fell to his demise. He stared at him helplessly, he wanted to help, even if it was useless and futile. He wanted to have hope,

"Can someone like me do something to stop this?" he questioned the bear, interrogating it for even the tiniest chance at helping. "Can I really prevent everything from turning out this way?" 

"Of course you can!" it replied happily, content that its target had started taking it seriously "Sign a contract with me and become a magical girl!"

Makoto grimaced, a magical girl?

Of course, his hopes were futile,

They all ways were.

Then he woke up with a gasp.

"Are you okay Makoto?" his brother's voice rang through the hall, worry weaved through his calm tone,

"Yes, I just had a weird dream."

-_-_-_-_-_-

Korekiyo didn't dream often. 

His nights had always been quiet, calm and peaceful. No disruptions. Nothing. That night, though, he dreamt. 

It wasn't anything of value, just a night sky, glowing with constellations and swimming with blues and purples but it was his. It was his dream, his first in years. A beautiful night full of melodies of his happiest life moments dancing around his mind, greeting him with warm arms and kind words. They pulled him into an affectionate waltz, pampering him with kindness and hope. 

It was so peaceful. Too peaceful. Korekiyo was prone to nightmares on the rare occasion his thoughts visit him during his slumber. So, not having too much to fabricate the dreams on other than trauma regardless. So for something so beautiful to occur to him felt unnatural, but as he whirled through the stars until he could feel his dream-self tire, he couldn't bring himself to care. 

He sat down in the sky, staring down at the earth. Admiring the humans he had studied so passionately as he felt a soft hand grip his own. Shinguji didn't need to turn to know who it was; he knew that hold, he knew it so well. It had gotten him through thick and thin, comforted him in his lowest lows and supported him in his highest highs. He loved that hold and the boy who gave it to him, and the boy cared for him back. The comfort grounded him it made him feel tired. Warm and cosy and tired. 

So tired. 

Gently, a small grin spread across his face as he leaned into the comfort of the hold, closing his eyes as he felt a nothingness engulf his peaceful demeanour.

"The moon is beautiful, isn't it, Rantaro?" He murmured as the night sky started to disappear, slowly leaving his sight until the bright moon was the only thing his lidded eyes could see.

Shinguji Korekiyo wasn't awake to hear the boys answer. 

Not that he thought he would get one, at the time. He and Rantaro had never been ones for such formalities, and Rantaro himself had never been one for literature. His dream may have humoured him, maybe, but his brain must have tired as he soon faded into is dreamless nothingness once again. He was at peace. If he had died there, drifting in darkness after his dream, he would have been happy. 

He would have been content.

In the waking world, Rantaro ran his thumb over the boy's hand. Drawing circles on the cold hands of the other. Sitting silently, massaging the flesh in his hand as he tried to focus on the boy in front of him. His teammates stood silently behind them, letting the pair have their moment before slowly prying the teen away from Shinguji. 

"Let him rest." he heard, though Rantaro was not sure who had said it. A pair of firm hands pulling him away from Korekiyo and towards the elevator, quietly placing a dark object against his ring. "We don't have the time nor strength required to carry him with us. You must leave him behind." it said to him before pausing "You can come to collect him later." Amami felt his head nod as the elevator took them away, upwards or downwards he couldn't tell. 

Before he knew it cold air blew across his face, giving him a reprieve he hadn't known he needed. Rantaro took a deep breath, letting the air fill his lungs and bring him back to reality. 

"Can you get us back?" a voice came, a different one than before. It was familiar, like the one of an old friend, he couldn't help but relax when he heard it. 

Rantaro looked at his hand instinctively, pondering the question as he inspected it, "I think I can make the trip." 

"Good." the voice sounded relieved, a hand supporting him as it spoke, "Let's go then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> I hope you enjoyed this part!  
> It's one of the few with a prewritten draft instead of a prompt or a paragraph or two already written so the next update will take a while -u-;) (also, I want the next one to be longer so... XD)  
> Thank you for reading!  
> Bye!


	2. Mellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **"Shuichi, you're a bit old for us to have to confiscate your phone."**
> 
> **"Do you even have the right to do that?" Hajime called from the other side of the speaker, a small quirk of his eyebrow as he spoke.**
> 
> **"Makoto has free reign over the swear jar. I don't see the problem in giving him confiscation rights." Satoshi had followed Komaru into the room as Hajime had questioned. He spoke as he sat next to the youngest sibling, completely encompassing Shuichi within his relatives.**
> 
> **Komaru laughed, sitting next to the last empty seat as she did so. "It's kind of odd that Makoto has more power over us punishment-wise than you, Uncle."**
> 
> **"It's because he's a literal saint," Satoshi replied as if the answer was obvious. "It's hard not to trust him when he speaks, hears, sees and does no evil."**
> 
> **Said saint lightly blushed, scratching his neck awkwardly as he tried to evade the situation. "That's a bit much."**
> 
> **"It's true."**
> 
> Home made Makoto feel warm, oh so warm, and bad dreams are left forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi~  
> Oml I complete rewrote this. There's nothing left. If you miss the old version, I'm sorry XD.  
> Anyways, this like quadrupled in length but let's forget this. I hope you like the newer version, we now have Nagito, Kokichi and Kaede!  
> I hope you enjoy this part!  
> Thank you for reading this fair, and cya in the endnotes!

Mellow 

adjective UK /ˈmel.əʊ/ US /ˈmel.oʊ/ 

smooth and soft, or not too sharp, bright, new, or rough:

-_-_-_-_-_-

****

When Makoto awoke, the sunlight greeted him warmly, guiding him through his morning routine and towards the kitchen and, to the table, rubbing his still tired eyes.

"Good morning." he yawned, grasping onto the drink placed in front of him with a small smile and gulping it down.

"Morning, little egg," his uncle smiled warmly at him, placing a plate in front of him as he moved around the room. "How are you?" Makoto frowned slightly at the reminder that he was, in fact, the shortest Naegi before mumbling out an unintelligible response. His uncle chuckled, "Tired, then." a large hand was placed on his head, patting it softly as he continued to speak. "Don't tell the others, but if you want, you can stay home today. I could use the company, anyway." 

Makoto shook his head and smiled, the sugary beverage waking him up, "If anyone deserves to stay home, it's Shuichi." The teen laughed, placing his cup down and looking the older in the eyes, "Hajime had to drag him away from work last week."

"Second that." said the aforementioned brother, Shuichi following him silently and looked, quite frankly, exhausted. Hajime traversed towards the fridge, opening it and taking a carton of orange juice out, quickly glancing behind him before going towards the cupboard and taking out two containers. "Do you want tea?" Makoto looked down at the empty glass that he had downed prior and smiled,

"Sure," Makoto answered, placing a cherry tomato in his mouth. "What flavour?"

"Blueberry lavender." Hajime readout, turning around at the pause from the other and gesturing at the softly dozing bluenette. "It's the purple one you find Shuichi drinking when there isn't any coffee." The mention of his name shocked the youngest awake. Shuichi blinked quietly before looking down at the food his uncle had placed in front of him. He seemed a bit confused (as he was barely awake in the first place). So, he directed his attention towards the conversation is elder brothers were having to gather context.

Makoto face was washed with recognition, "Ah, I haven't tried that one before." 

Hajime nodded, moving to the kettle to fill it with water, "Neither."

"It's nice," their uncle, Satoshi, chimed from his place on the other side of the kitchen, "Too potent for my tastes, but I prefer regular tea anyway." He glanced at his nephew, raising an eyebrow at the pot of coffee beans. Usually, Shuichi would have a cup though the younger was the only one who drank the fruit tea, so he assumed the drink was for the boy. "Are you making coffee for Izuru?"

"Sorry, it's a habit." Hajime chuckled awkwardly, placing the beans back in the cupboard. It hadn't been too long since his twin brother had moved out - he knew he wasn't alone in getting used to the lack of the other. Izuru wasn't really gone. He was just going to some prestigious law school out of town, had moved to be closer to school. He came back during school breaks - he'd actually left recently after summer. Still, it was odd to not have all five Naegi siblings in the house every morning. He passed the fridge once again, opening it to take some ice out when he saw a strange carton. It wasn't strange per se - it was normal enough - the lavender carton looked out of place in the fridge where it wasn't regularly seen. Hajime took it out, reading the package and raising an eyebrow, "Komaru still gets chocolate milk, right?"

"Yes, why?" Satoshi replied, now closer to the brunette as he cleaned the kitchenware.

"We have blueberry milk?"

"Blueberry milk?" Makoto blinked, chuckling a bit at the thought, "That exists?"

"Apparently," Hajime clarified, raising the box to let his brother see it over his shoulder.

Satoshi smiled at the box as if he were seeing an old friend and began to explain it's presence. "I saw it in town while doing the grocery run and wanted to try some,"

Hajime blinked, "So you bought it?"

"Yes." Satoshi grinned, placing his own plate and another next to Shuichi. "I guess we're having this instead." He gestured for Hajime to sit down, implying that he'd clean up himself, "Shuichi, care for milk?" The teen nodded groggily, taking a tentative sip from his glass (after a bit of prompting from his uncle). His eye widened slightly, the taste pleasant against his tongue. Shuichi placed the glass down, slightly more awake thanks to the sugar, thanking his uncle and returning to his meal. (Makoto discovered that the drink was, in fact, the beverage he downed earlier with little regard for the taste, Hajime decided he still preferred orange juice. Komaru was still absent). "Shu definitely likes it." their uncle chuckled, placing his hand on Shuichi's head. The detective was a veteran at reading his niblings' emotions from small changes in their facial expressions, so had noticed Shuichi's reaction immediately. "I'll go fetch Komaru. Help yourself to breakfast."

Makoto observes his younger brother. He wouldn't be the first to mention that the younger was tired (and emo) quite often and took eyebags as an aesthetic. Despite this, it was rare that he was too tired to contribute to their morning banter. He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, talking as quietly as possible to not startle the shorter. "Did something keep you up?" Shuichi jumped slightly, still shocked despite Makoto's attempt before an embarrassed look encompassed his face, and he nodded. Makoto sighed, lightly chuckling as he chastised the younger. "Shuichi, you're a bit old for us to have to confiscate your phone."

"Do you even have the right to do that?" Hajime called from the other side of the speaker, a small quirk of his eyebrow as he spoke.

"Makoto has free reign over the swear jar. I don't see the problem in giving him confiscation rights." Satoshi had followed Komaru into the room as Hajime had questioned. He spoke as he sat next to the youngest sibling, completely encompassing Shuichi within his relatives.

Komaru laughed, sitting next to the last empty seat as she did so. "It's kind of odd that Makoto has more power over us punishment-wise than you, Uncle."

"It's because he's a literal saint," Satoshi replied as if the answer was obvious. "It's hard not to trust him when he speaks, hears, sees and does no evil."

Said saint lightly blushed, scratching his neck awkwardly as he tried to evade the situation. "That's a bit much."

"It's true." 

"Regardless," Makoto breathed, deciding to ignore the compliment in favour of completing his conversation with Shuichi. "I don't want to have to take action - it makes me feel kind of awkward, so try to go to sleep at a decent time next time?"

"And with that, all the worlds problems are solved," Satoshi smirked, an immature streak finally making it's way to the top of his demeanour. "Makoto tells the planet to try better; world peace is achieved." 

An awkward expression graced the face of Makoto as soon, "It's not like that."

"You're literally the ultimate hope," Satoshi ignored his nephew as he continued, waving a hand around to accentuate his point. "Hajime and Izuru too. You're all so... hopeful."

"Uncle, stop."

"Okay, okay. I'll throw endless praise at you later." The man grinned, placing a hand on his youngest nephew's head. Shuichi sadly was obstructing Satoshi's path to Makoto's messy hair, so his uncle half-mindedly petted his hair. "Eat up; you three have to leave soon." Satoshi paused his petting of Shuichi's hair to speak to Hajime, who had long since finished his food and had begun to clean up. "Are you going with them?"

"No," Hajime answered from his new place by the sink, "My first class isn't for a few hours."

"Oh," Satoshi blinked, a brief confusion flickering on his face. "I thought your ex-classmates were having a mini meet-up today?"

Hajime blinked, pausing his cleaning to ponder on the suggestion, flushing at the realisation that he had forgotten about the event. "They are." 

His uncle smiled, returning back to the patting of his nephews head, "You'll be leaving a bit earlier then."

Komaru chuckled in an awkward fondness at the conversation. "I sometimes forget how up to date Uncle is with our lives." She smiled as she munched on her toast, knowing fully well the can of worms she'd reopened.

"Got to use my detective skills for something." Satoshi smiled as if he didn't own a detective agency where he used his skills - on most days.

"It's kind of creepy." Shuichi cringed as his uncle's grip tightened slightly on his head at the statement. He sent a distasteful look at his sister even though it was he who had called it creepy.

"Hey," Satoshi whined, suddenly acting like the youngest person in the room, weakening his grip on Shuichi once he noticed it's tightness. "I don't look into anything too private!"

"You knew I had a boyfriend before I had one." Hajime chimed helpfully.

"You were really obvious." Their uncle grunted, scrambling to defend himself. 

Makoto paused. Having not ever been present for the other times this topic had come up, he hadn't ever pondered the fact. "You do know everything before it happens." The act never edged on an invasion of privacy, not really. Their uncle just kept a record of everything that they told him in case of them forgetting. Though, ever since he had preempted Hajime's relationship (because, quite frankly, they weren't subtle,) it'd become a running joke that the man stalked them. In return, Satoshi had begun doing things to feed this prenotion. He had started openly making guesses on what was going on in their lives from information he would come across. As the detective's guesses were often accurate, the family had ended up down this rabbit hole many times.

"No, I don't!"

Shuichi let out an amused sigh and pulled out his trump card. You see, Naegi Shuichi was a talented detective, a true prodigy, in fact. So he'd begun matching his uncle's predictions - that day, he was ten billion per cent certain his guess was correct. "Makoto's getting a new transfer student today, right?"

Satoshi blinked, looking at the teen under his hand. Masked confusion coating his expression as spoke. "Yes, how'd you know?"

"You have that excited face you have on when something important or exciting happens, but you're not preparing for anything. The time of year doesn't line up with anything; there weren't many options." Shuichi began to list the tells he had picked up on in his renewed awakeness.

"Your birthday is soon; why'd you exclude that?" Satoshi enquired, his curiosity getting the best of him. 

Shuichi paused as he thought of how to reply. It was correct that is birthday was a few weeks away. He hadn't given the point much thought - since he'd only had since he'd regained the ability to think coherently from his exhaustion only a few minutes ago. He had to have had a reason as to why he ignored it. Shuichi filed through his thoughts, finally landing on one he found adequate for the conversation. "You seemed to be excited about something no one else knows - everyone here knows when my birthday is." 

Satoshi grinned, not even masking his pride as he mumbled quietly, "Brilliant."

Makoto, while all of this was happening, was quite confused. This was the first time he had heard of a transfer student; no one could blame him for being curious. "How'd you know about a transfer student?"

"An acquaintance of mine who has business here is moving to be closer," Satoshi replied lazily, not finding his sources very important. "He has a son that's your age; it wasn't hard enough to work out what school that son would go to."

Makoto pressed further, "An acquaintance of yours?"

"You've heard to of the Togami Corporation?" his uncle inquired, taking a sip out of the blue milk in his glass. Togami Corporation? Makoto pondered on the name for a moment before landing on some vague memories of a corporate giant that... ran banks?

"You know Togami Kijo?" Hajime pipped curiously, saving Makoto from revealing his lack of knowledge about business and finance. Which would be less surprising if both of his older brothers were not big on the stuff. Hajime was planning to attend law school; Izuru on the path to do some more... businessy stuff.

"Barely." Satoshi snickered. Finding it amusing that his nephew had even considered him being important enough to know the man personally. "We're just business partners."

"Business partners?" Shuichi queried, "Doesn't he run a bank?" 

"Among other things, yes," Satoshi answered, sounding more than a bit bored with the subject. "Financial conglomerates do a lot of things."

Shuichi let out another cheerful sound, "That sounds shady."

"It does, doesn't it?" Satoshi snorted, taking no action to deny the dubious implications. He waved off the conversation effortlessly and prompted them to eat once again. "Regardless of my knowledge of your personal lives, I have four niblings who need to leave for school soon, and I'd rather none of them was late." Makoto then returned to his plate, realising that his food was long gone and grinned. As he started to clean up his mess and eventually prepared to leave, the grin remained dreams of strange bears and blonde boys long forgotten.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Komaeda smirked as he stood over his adoptive brother. The pair had moved in together as soon as Nagito could legally leave the orphanage they had shared. After this, being who they were, had promptly managed to destroy everything in their path. That is a story for another time. 

Nagito had had to rely on his intellect to make his way to his brother's bed. Since if he relied on his luck, he was almost confirmed to get into a car crash. That or he'd manage to find a bomb, or he'd lose and break ring or something worse. He knew Kokichi had boobie-trapped his room to sweet hell and that everything that seemed even slightly out of place was likely to attempt to give him a concussion. Nothing would deter him from waking his little brother up in person though, it was always brought a brilliant start to his day.

"Morning, Kichi." He grinned, smiling down at the brother he had woken early. Nagito knew fully well Kokichi wouldn't appreciate being woken at 4 AM for no reason. Well, when it came to Ouma Kokichi, preparing a prank was reason enough to wake up in ungodly hours in the morning - but he couldn't bring himself to care. In fact, he felt a sense of petty victory at the idea of annoying the younger. As much as he loved his brother, Ouma could be a real pain in the neck, and Nagito had lived with him for almost his entire life. So the light-haired boy stood there, a prideful smile coating his face as he waited for his brother to realise that Nagito, in fact, did know he was not asleep.

"Go away." Ouma groaned in defeat, rolling over to face his brother and glared at him before throwing himself under the covers once again.

"I can't do that," Komaeda laughed, smiling fondly and considering the advantages of violently pulling the sheets off of the younger boy. He'd just have to wear a helmet for the next week to preempt Kokichi's eventual revenge. (Nagito wasn't wholly sure if his trusty helmet would survive another Ouma-attack, though the thing had clearly seen better days). "You wouldn't want to be late for school."

His brother growled, curling further into himself as if he believed if he became as small as possible, Nagito would leave him alone. "Fuck school."

"No, that simply won't do," Komaeda laughed, not deterred by the youngers anger, deciding to go for a more underhanded method. Play to his interests. "Not when you've already spent so long preparing for today." When Kokichi's eyes glittered, his previously exhausted figure sprung up enthusiastically, he knew he'd taken the right path. 

"What did you do." Kokichi hissed, his eyes thinned in suspicion but sparkling with undeniable excitement. Despite being more sensible of the pair, Nagito was still (in the words of many people) a conniving little shit, if not in a different way to his sibling. You see, if the pair were world-known criminals, Kokichi would be an uncatchable phantom thief - while Komaeda would be a masked killer. Luckily for the entirety of Japan, they were not. That, though, didn't take away from their scheming tendencies. In this regard, Ouma was more than justified to be wary of his brother's surprise for him.

Nagito found the face his brother made to be entirely amusing, and his smirk grew a little bit wider. "I don't know what you mean, Kokichi."

Ouma's eye thinned even further, amethyst eyes skitting around the room before joining with light green once again. "Where is it?"

"By the door." Komaeda's eyes crescent moons as he laughed, snickering hysterically as the pointed outside of the room. His brother dashed out of the room, moving towards the object with worrying agility for someone who had just woken up. He pounced on the box he found like a predator on prey and tearing it open. 

Ouma's eyes widened at the contents. Inside was a stash of materials that seemed fit for a clown show. There was glitter (in the exact shade of gold that Kokichi loved), crazy glue, whoopie cushions. As well as stink bombs, more twine than the stash of any conspiracy theorist, custard (that was surprising), an obscene amount of Panta and much more. Probably more than what should fit in the (ridiculously) small box, but Kokichi wasn't about to question his brother's act of vast generosity. "When did you do this?" Kokichi questioned, eyes sparkling the way they did when he had a destructive plan as he spun around. He threw his hands around his brother and burying himself in his chest.

Komaeda chuckled, used to his brother's touchy nature. He hadn't gotten a call on the first day of school as he expected and immediately became worried. A lack of welcome-back-anarchy meant one of two things, Kichi was planning something big that would take more than a week, or Kichi was too down to plan a prank. So Nagito, fervently hoping for the former, had gone out of his way to obtain some of the boy's favourite materials. Including that golden glitter that his brother loved, which was ridiculously hard to find because not everyone was obsessed with a certain Naegi. As well as a worryingly large amount of Panta - which had cost him his firstborn and a leg (since he didn't exactly have an arm to sell). He'd have to warn Hajime later about how some creepy Panta salesman may come to take their firstborn in the far future. That and maybe apologise about the second prosthetic they might have to buy if the same salesman came for his leg. He'll have to extend that apology to his brother, too. Since Ouma wouldn't be too happy about it. That was a future Nagito problem, though, because right now, said younger brother was wrapped around his waist in gratitude. "I've had a lot of free time recently, that's all."

"Bullshit," Kokichi mumbled into his brother's shirt, making no move to let go of his brother. The purplenette snuggled closer into Komaeda's shirt, craving the comfort, and mumbled a soft thank you when he was sure his brother wouldn't hear him. Sadly, for Kokichi, that is - Nagito loved the attention, he miscalculated. 

"Is that a 'thank you' I hear?" The white-haired boy giggled, smiling at the now frowning boy in his arms.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ah," Nagito smiled, feigning - quite poorly - an apologetic voice. "I must have been mistaken."

Ouma pouted, letting go of his brother and making a dull face, waving his hand around to accentuate his supposed boredom. "Definitely, you lunatic."

"You're one to talk." Nagito pipped, raising an eyebrow at the comment. Sure, Nagito wasn't the sanest of men (anyone who had known him in his last year of high school would confirm that with a slight shiver at the memory) - in fact, he was the opposite. He was deranged, and he was proud of it. Despite this, Kokichi wasn't any different. Maybe it was the similar upbringing, but that'd be an insult against the Shiba House. Regardless, the point is they were both less than mentally stable, and they knew it. Even if they were both getting better with time and help, that didn't take away from the fact. So he couldn't be suspended for finding irony in the insult.

Kokichi grinned, knowing fully well how much of a hypocrite he was being. "I have no idea what you mean, Nagi-chan."

"Sure." Nagito returned, accepting defeat as he made his way towards the kitchen, keeping his brother insight. "Breakfast is almost ready - you should probably have it now if you don't want it to get it cold." Ouma nodded, not replying and closing the cardboard box. Leaving it as if he had never torn it open and started to haul it back to his room. Kokichi paused as if he could feel the eyes on his back as he left. He sighed, rolling his eyes as he called back behind him. 

"I'm fine, so you can stop giving me your worried father look." He whined.

"What look?" Komaeda questioned, seeming genuinely confused. Ouma ignored the question, continuing on his path across their apartment to do Atua knows what, with the materials to prepare for the day. Nagito blinked, deciding to move on with the conversation, "Do you want me to tell the other's to go ahead without you?"

"You know me so well, Nagi-chan."

-_-_-_-_-_-

There were two hours until school started. Kaede wasn't sure why the school still let them into school early after the reputation Ouma and his affiliates had made of misusing this time for their schemes. In fact, she thought he saw a few of them when she came in several minutes earlier. Kaede'd have to make sure to avoid that area if she could. Right now, though, all she could think about was what was awaiting him in the music room. The piano was beautiful; it was regal and gorgeous, it made everything in her world better. She had and would give up everything for the music he loved so much. So she got up early every morning to play it until the school filled with chaos, and she would be needed elsewhere. She played until she couldn't anymore. That's just how it was.

The blonde sat at the piano, brushing her bangs behind her ears as she placed her hands on the ivory keys. She let her hands glide over the keys without thinking. Letting the soothing sound of Clair De Lune. It was nostalgic to feel her hands fly over the keys and welcome the song into her ears. She'd played this to Shuichi once, back when they were younger and in love and trying to navigate their newly found relationship. They were smitten all those years ago. New teens in a new school with new love, thinking it would last them a lifetime. It didn't, of course - they had broken up in the third year of junior high after taking a break and deciding they would be better off as friends. Kaede didn't realise how much she missed their relationship until she couldn't go back, but she didn't know it back then. Then Shuichi met Kokichi, looked at him with eyes full of love even more profound than any look he had ever given her, and she realised she would never get him back. 

She was happy for him - of course, she was. He was her best friend no matter how much she craved for their lost relationship; if he was content, she was happier. It didn't matter how much it hurt. Kaede has tried going into different relationships - but soon realised she had to work on herself before she would be able to try again. So she threw herself into her art because the music represented her soul. Kaede had gained praise and notoriety then, and it'd felt good. To be praised and admired. It'd helped heal her aching heart, and with her rather aggressive, self-care - she had gotten better. That didn't stop her from coming back, though old habits die hard. She still loved him and coming back here was comforting, she couldn't help herself.

The blond sat there, playing her favourite songs. Her pink eyes glistening as she did so and revelled in its beauty until her internal clock told her she'd enjoyed herself more than enough this morning. She stood up, picking up her stuff and moving towards the door, still in a trance as she walked through the door, humming happily.

Then she left a cold, familiar liquid fall over her. 

She winced, not having to look down to know she was sticky with carbonated grape juice. Sighing, she peeled off her jumper, placing it in her bag and deciding she'd hope that her shirt wasn't see-through and pray that Tsumugi had another shirt on her. Which she was bound to do, being the dutiful cosplayer she was. Even if she went around in a Violet Evergarden cosplay that day, any clothing was better than wet clothing. Akamatsu began her search for a bathroom to clean herself up, and she grinned,

Things were a lot better these days.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Neon lights **** softly illuminate the alleyway. It was romantic but eerie, a place for forbidden lovers and murders. Oddly fitting for Byakuya's purposes. The blonde glared down at the bear in front of him, it's familiar red eye lighting up their surroundings. He'd needed to blow off some steam, and the poor clone (because that's what they all were, clones) that he came across was going to meet the end of his gun. He was both grateful for and angry at the clones in moments like these, he loved them, but he would never know if he got to the original. Since it means the bear was so determined to share its gift that it made identical clones of itself. Maybe there was a mother, he didn't know. It didn't matter, not now.

He had frozen them in time. Shooting a bullet in the air and letting its magic surround them. This ensured he had enough time to do what he wanted without troublesome non-magical-people or DICE members discovering them. 

A shot rang through the air, piercing the bear's leg. Togami didn't know if they felt pain, but he liked to pretend they did. That he could make them suffer, that the bear could fulfil his sick desires. The desires that came out only when he saw the bear. He cocked his gun again, shooting both of the bear's arms and stomach. Watching the bullets pierce its bloodless flesh, holes that would regularly be full of gushing rubies held no liquid. It'd be off-putting if it was his first time doing this - to see the wounds but not the blood, but he was used to it by now. Only feeling low, deep disgust grown in him, it was hard to not feel disgusted when you knew the truth. Not many people knew the truth, and Byakuya didn't have any intention of telling them. So he kept his loathing silent. 

He looked up at the sky, staring calculatingly, and he sighed he'd have to finish and clean up soon. He placed the magical gun away, taking a larger gun out of his pocket and loading it. It was heavy - he hadn't used a larger gun in quite a while - but it would get him the results he wanted, so he'd push through. Togami aimed, bringing the scope up to his eye and pulling the trigger, hearing the whistle and impact he'd come to love so much. A soft explosion came afterwards, the sound familiar with the number of times he has done this. The white and black flesh of the bear flew everywhere, it's red eye now an orb on the ground. Byakuya tucked the gun away, swapping it for the one that held his magic, shooting it up and returning the area to time. He'd clean up, but he didn't think the bear deserved that, so he'd leave the jigsaw corpse to rot or be cleaned up by someone else. He turned away to leave. He had places to be, after all. He had to go home; to sleep so that he could be awake on time tomorrow.

After all, it would be rude to be late on your first day of school. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Salutations!  
> Still worried about characterisation but let's ignore my insecurities XD. Also, didn't plan the onesided saimatsu... oops? Enjoy it though, I guess.  
> Word of the chapter is mellow, which means soft and smooth and (well) almost boring. A nice word for one of the tamest chapters in the fic magic wise, don't you think?  
> Also, writing Nagito and Kokichi living together is too much fun. Don't question why Nagito is up at 4 AM to wake Kichi up, it's one of those headcanons I have for this AU like Kazuichi's amazing tea brewing skills that he never uses because he doesn't like tea. I think he learnt it to woo Sonia but when he ended up just having a cool skill to use whenever he had his tea-loving best friends around and Nagito has insomnia due to years of magical boy-ing and it seldom happened during daylight, so he's basically nocturnal at this point.  
> I don't know whether I should tag the background relationships, I did tag some of the friendships so I guess I should but that's on the fence?  
> Hahaha, there's probably a bunch of mistakes in this but my favourite is me calling Nagito, who is 20 in this fic, a child.  
> Regardless, thank you for reading this far! I hope you like it! Thanks for the kudos and stuff!  
> Ciao~


	3. Teem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rain fell carefully on the glass of the hospital window, covering it with jewels of rainwater that gracefully fell by her eyes;  
> She'd never seen anything more beautiful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was listening to _Shelter_ on repeat when I wrote this (since I rewatched it recently) and it's pretty obvious now that I read back through it -u-;).  
> Anyways, **_I GOT KUDOS_**  
>  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!  
> Also someone bookmarked this and I think I screamed in excitement so thanks for that too!  
> But back to the story:  
> I hope you enjoy this part! Thank you for reading so much!  
> See you at the end notes!!!

Teem  
verb  
1.  
to rain heavily:  
It's been teeming down all day.  
It's teeming with rain.  
2.  
be full of or swarming with.  
"every garden is teeming with wildlife".  
-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
It was raining.  
  
The pitter-pattering of the rain against the glass walls of her cage the only sound filling her ears. The pristine prison of rubber and machinery empty other than the occasional employee silently floating down the halls, careful not to disturb the patient, and herself - the lone prisoner of the ward, destined to be forever alone. Observe the weather was all she was able to do, too lame to rise and practise as she longed to and too demotivated to find another way to entertain herself, but she didn't mind.  
  
The weather was constant wherever you were, the same no matter what was happening and always there; regardless of whether life was there to accompany it. The rain was especially beautiful. The sky wept onto the world below, it's sorrow giving plants life and cleaning the world of its sins. The worlds large tears falling; feeding the earth and it's teeming beauty. The rain showed that even something so depressing, so melancholy and grey, could create the greatest of beauties. Rain gave her the hope she needed to carry on, it filled her dreams with beauty and desires. The graceful lakes surrounded by nothing but sky and rain, the peace in it was entrapping - freezing her in place to stare at the sky like she longed she could do. It gave her the shelter she longed for and at that moment, she was a peace  
  
But then she'd fall and it'd all happen again.   
  
The screams.  
  
The bright lights.  
  
The sirens.  
  
The far off muttering.  
  
The beeps.  
  
And the realization.  
  
Over and over again, in an endless loop as she gasped for air, grasping at the threads of freedom as she fell farther and farther into the depths of despair, into the never-ending sorrow. Eventually to do it all again, and endless loop of hope and despair, the kind of thing you'd only find in fiction or the sick dreams off a lunatic was her reality. It was all she knew and all she'd had since 'it' happened. It encased the entirety of being, erasing everything about her until the only remnants of her former self was a pink bow and a small pink and white stuffed bear with a small flower upon its ear (one of a set of stuffed mascots her band had collected during their time on tour, each one being a different colour and having differing personalities - she'd even given her little sister a stuffed pink and white rabbit wearing a diaper, Aoi a white one with bandages and a black one with a feathered fedora to Takeshi - a young boy who had briefly shared the ward with her when he broke his leg).  
  
It really was despairful.  
  
"You're awake."  
  
A tall woman with short black hair enters the room, her dull blue eyes soft as she greeted her. Sayaka didn't recognise her - the nurse that frequented her room the most had choppy purple hair - but disregarded the fact, it didn't matter if she recognised the nurse that cared for her; only that they did their job so she smiled weakly back as she tried to shake herself out of her dazed state.   
  
"I am Rani Hatanaka, I'll be caring for you until Mikan officially finishes her education," she introduced, returning Sayaka's measly smile with an equally as measly grin "Please refer to me as Maddy." she nodded before beginning a few routine checks on the equipment around her and taking a few notes for later review.  
  
Sayaka stared at the woman in deep confusion, partially at the new information that the kind nurse who'd cared for her during the summer was nothing but an exceptionally talented intern; and partially because of the drastic difference between her new aid's given name and her chosen nickname, examining her as she made her way around the room with practised elegance, almost as if she'd worked here before, even though Sayaka had been the only occupant of the ward for months and had no memory of such an employee. She turned her eyes away from the nurse and back to the large window next to her, not used to talking to anyone other than her family, band, Aoi and Mikan, her gaze laying on the now clearing sky as her day began once more. Another cycle in the hope and despair that engulfed her life, Another chapter in the story that was her life. She grabbed the bear lying next to her pillow as she carefully mounted her wheel-chair (a task that she'd gotten increasingly good at over time) and smiled up at the nurse, replying softly to the conversation she was leading as they left her room.  
  
Away from the rain.  
  
-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Her day hadn't been anything special: she'd met with her therapist once more, made more preparations for her eventual leave, eaten, spoken with her parents and returned to her room, same as all other weekdays. Miyadera, a fellow patient who often came to Gekkogahara-san's session when her body felt up to it, had seemed especially distraught about the disappearance of her younger brother, Korekiyo. Saying that a boy by the name of "Rantaro" had come to speak with her after "Kork" - as Rantaro had eloquently nicknamed the aforementioned missing boy - had failed to return home the previous night, and had proceeded to worry about it for the entirety of their group therapy.   
  
Aoi couldn't visit her due to school and Atua knows what her band was doing now, she'd banned everyone who came to see her from speaking about it - something about wanting to be surprised when she got out or some other fabricated excuse to not face her problems - and had yet to regret it. Thinking about the band brought back memories of that day, the one with its six month anniversary was due soon, the one she'd been avoiding since it happened, the one that had forever changed her life. Ruined it, she guessed, it had robbed her of the ability to do things she loved the way she loved to do them, robbing her of the will to find a way around her handicap and get back on stage as soon as she could,   
  
Robbing her of the will the sing.  
  
She sighed, knowing well that she shouldn't be letting herself drown in her thoughts - she reminded herself to never use that metaphor out loud, she didn't want to cause Aoi another episode -, rolling over in her cot as she stared out of the window again. The pattering reemerging of the rain soothing her as it hit the window, gentle as a leaf falling from its tree in autumn and as comforting as a mothers embrace. Clearing her mind and lulling her to sleep.  
  
She subconsciously grasped onto the bear, curling in onto herself. Her dark hair lay in a mess among her sheets while she slowly left the land of the living once more, escaping from the tortures and traumas of regular life  
  
Back to her shelter in paradise.   
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll work out the word of the day format eventually; I promise.  
> Regardless, word of the day is Teem! Which means to rain heavily and full of life!  
> Is that Monophanie I sense? Absolutely (fun fact, it was originally going to be Usami but I thought the Monokubs would be a better fit)  
> Another Fun Fact: a large chunk of this part was technically beta read so....... I guess we won't die like Wei today XD  
> Final Fun Fact for today: Miyadera Shinguji's name XD - it quite literally means Shinguji Shinguji, cool I know!  
> Carrying on, thank you so much for reading and a massive thank you to the people who left kudos and bookmarked this!! (and to my friend who beta read the first half of this!)  
> I hope you enjoyed!  
> Bye!


	4. Engulf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The music flowed through her ears, it's minor tones filling her head as she made her way to school. It engulfed her in a slow, meaningful harmony, depicting its tales in explicit light, and - most importantly: blocking all of reality out.  
> Music, she'd decided, was the best way to ignore the weather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buongiorno!  
> I was listening to "Ruru's suicide Livestream" while I was writing this, but I don't think it's as evident as Shelter was (maybe since I was only listening to it during the last section)  
> Reguardless, I hope you enjoy this part! (writing so much about water in the part two parts has made me thirsty -u-;)  
> Thank you for reading this far and thank you to everyone who has left kudos!  
> Ciao!

engulf

verb 

UK /ɪnˈɡʌlf/ US /ɪnˈɡʌlf/

to surround and cover something or someone completely:

The flames rapidly engulfed the house.

Northern areas of the country were engulfed by/in a snowstorm last night.

The war is threatening to engulf the entire region.

-_-_-_-_-_-

It was raining.

She was certain that if she paid enough attention she could hear the pattering of the rain against her umbrella through the music she'd plugged into her ears, but she didn't try to strain her ears hard enough. She didn't particularly want to hear it's vicious attacks against her, throwing its entire being into harming her - defiling her of her sanity before leaving her for dead. 

Like it always did.

It wasn't the rain that scared her, she actually quite liked the rain. Its tranquil fall reminded her of the days she'd listen to Sayaka rant about nothing and everything while the rain played a soft accompaniment.

It was the puddles she feared.

Little sinks of water scattered over the ground, waiting to gobble her up in famished haste. Drag her down into their deep depths and steal the air from her lungs. Drown her in their borrowing acres, making sure the little life she had left escaped her. Ran away at record speed to find a new place to reside.

.

.

.

She swallowed, trying to level her breathing. Channelling the air through her lungs, making sure she knew it was there and flowing through her. Knowing that she shouldn't bury herself in her thoughts. 

Knowing it would be fine, that she'd make it to school and see her friends once again. That she'd laugh at some stupid dream Yasuhiro had the night before and talk to Sakura. That she'd go into the game store, debating whether or not to buy Danganronpa: Despair Beyond Hope for Sayaka - she'd seen her staring out of the windows more often than usual leaving Aoi under the assumption she had run out of things to do. She would go home, eat dinner with Yuta and everything would be normal.

At least she hoped.

She slowed her pace, gradually coming to a stop as she continued to fill her mind with fake hopes and dreams to keep her going. Surveying her surroundings, looking for something to drag her minds attention away from the horror that surrounded her.

Then she saw it. 

It was a building she had seen many times, it was tall and pristine. A beautiful array of shiny wood, grey stone and glass. Glowing with such an ethereal beauty it was almost unnatural. The glowing sun shining through its windows, reflecting off the water inside in a bittersweet symphony of peace.

It was home to all her greatest dreams,

And her worst nightmares

She stood there, longing to go in but knowing if she did the panic rising in the back of her mind would take over. Aoi knew that if she stayed there much longer she'd go to school in a blanket and an icepack but she couldn't rip her eyes off the building.

She longed to be back there, in Adam's ale. Feeling it's cold embrace against her skin as she glid through it. She wanted to be there, be free like she was before...

She couldn't think about it.

She knew she had to get over it one day, she knew her aquaphobia had begun to take a serious toll on her life. She knew bath sent chills up her spine and the panic would grasp for her breath, she knew it was terrifying the effect a few litres of liquid had on a woman who wanted nothing else but to be in the sea.

She knew a lot of things actually, she knew of the feeling of death. Her whole life flashing before her in a desperate attempt to find a solution, she knew that while she was still walking one of the most important people to her would never be able to do what they loved again. She knew that it wasn't her fault at least that's what her therapist told her, she knew she couldn't control how her body reacted his drastic situations. She knew Sayaka's accident wasn't related to hers, she knew horrible things she'd rather forget but the worst thing she knew was:

She'd never swim again if she continued like this.

Ignorance really was bliss.

-_-_-_-_-_-

She couldn't hear anything, she had zoned out she assumed. It was probably for the best. Being on auto-pilot during the rain reduced the chances of another panic attack. 

She didn't feel like herself, so quiet and calculating. So scared and hurt. It was almost as if there was two of her: the bubbly, soft girl who was kind to everyone, loved doughnuts, swimming and the people close to her; and the gloomy, calculated, frightened and broken soul who like warmth, silence and feared water with the entirety of her being.

Almost opposites, maybe in an alternate universe they could have been separate people, lived different lives. Probably never knew of the other's existence, wouldn't have cared regardless - because who would want to co-exist with someone so different to them? Who's terrified of thing that kept you going.

Of the thing that makes you whole?

No one, or maybe she's just bitter - the cold witch that lives inside her, because despite feeling ripped apart - thrown between two personalities fighting for dominance - she'd never felt so lonely. 

Some days, really quiet days, when she felt cold and alone, she'd remember that water was running through her veins. Powering her organs and keeping her alive. 

On these days, lonely as could be, she'd scratch at her flesh - and at her eyes when she started to weep, trying to escape. Trying to rid her body of the horrid water. To get it all out. Get it out of her lungs.

To get it out of her

So why couldn't she stop breathing so fast? The water was leaving, right?

She was doing the right thing.

Right?

If she didn't get rid of it she'd drown 

Like before

But this time the water wouldn't leave

It would fill her lungs, encapsulating her existence and making sure she felt nothing else but it

It'd kill her

So why did it hurt?

Why couldn't she breathe?

She needed to breathe

WHY COULDN'T SHE BREATHE?

Then she'd wake up, her fingers drenched in her own blood and her eyes red. Being carted off to another therapy session that didn't help. Munching on doughnuts like they were her only clutch to the real world,

And maybe they were.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Her breaths were deep and efficient, getting all the oxygen she needed into her lungs. It had a practised quality to it. As if she'd had to manage her breathing in such a way many times before. 

It cleared her mind, wiped it clean of her damaging thoughts and filling it with a calm numbness. It was peaceful, feeling nothing. A close second to the euphoria she felt when she was with her friends, away from it all, and preceding the cold streaking of tears down her cheeks. She didn't have many neutral moods after all, so being in one was quite refreshing. The quietness reminded her of quiet nights before the incident when everything was okay. Slipping through the fluid, feeling like she was gliding through the atmosphere.

Like she was flying.

She swallowed, trying to not get caught up in her thoughts again as she stared in front of herself, trying to pick out Hiro's pronounced dreadlocks or Sakura's ivory locks in the crowd.

"KYEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

It seemed Syo had decided to come to school today, why exactly she wasn't sure but she'd never say no to some excitement in her life. She jogged towards the girl, partially to catch up with her and partially to make sure no bodies were to be discovered. 

Her smile widened and her strides lengthened as she made her way towards her friend;

She had a feeling today was going to be a nice day,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> こにちわ ございます!  
> NEXT CHAPTER IS THE CHAPTER WITH THE BLURB IN IT!!!!!! I understand I'm not the best at connecting the summaries to the parts (in fact, the summary for 'Mellow' is a little anecdote I think XD) so I'm excited to get on to the worst day of Byakuya's life!  
> Oh, that sounds mean...  
> It's not wrong, the blurb was one of the first things I wrote back when this was just an idea I had sitting in my notes and not a fic so I think looking forward to writing Byakuya being petty is valid XD  
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!!  
> またね! (my limited knowledge of Japanese is coming to use, it's morning somewhere XD)


	5. Spite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This **_had_** to be the worst day of Byakuya's life - he swears he isn't being dramatic this time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come on in. Welcome to my fanfic.  
> Yes, I did finally get around to watching death parade, moving on, I was doing fine and dandy with this fic until I was attacked by a great fiend: _**writer's block**_ (everything changed when writer's block attacked) but fear not mortals! For I, the Ultimate Mad Lad, have overcome this threat and have returned with my offering:  
> A Byakuya-centric part called "Spite"  
> Regardless, thank you so much for reading this far and for the kudos this book has been receiving!  
> I hope you enjoy it!  
>  _Now then_ , let's begin!

**spite**

verb

UK /spaɪt/ US /spaɪt/

to intentionally annoy, upset, or hurt someone:

I almost think he died without making a will just to **spite** his family.

-_-_-_-_-_-

This had to be the worst day of Byakuya's life; sure he had had many "worst days" before but this had to take the cake. Byakuya, you see, didn't get along with people often, he'd never had any need to - who needed friends when you could quite literally buy Nintendo, so taking part in a plan in which he had to gain someone's trust was definitely not on the top of his to-do list. Of course, gaining this person's trust wasn't the most of his worries - who wouldn't want to be friends with the heir to a billion-yen company? - but keeping their trust that he was worried about. He was self-aware enough to know he wasn't the nicest of people and that he tended to lose companions quickly - other than that Syo person, they couldn't seem to leave him alone - due to his... less than welcoming personality. 

Overall Byakuya was anxious and that's not an emotion he likes - or does - feel often. 

And we find ourselves where we are, listening to his father drone on about responsibilities and appearances for the millionth time in these (almost) two decades the boy has lived, as Byakuya racks his groggy mind for reasons to care about whatever gibberish spilt out of Kijo's mouth. 

He groaned quietly, his shoulders sagging as he regretted his late-night murder spree. Well, less of a murder spree and more the murder of one random clone found trotting peacefully while familiarising himself with the area. (He was lucky the bear was smart enough to know it needed to duplicate itself to properly share its gift, it gave him a little stress release to know there was always a rouge bear to kill.) 

Slowly he tuned back into the lecture, hearing his father close of with a "but of course, you are the heir of my corporation, I shouldn't need to remind you of these things." and gesturing for him to leave the vehicle. Not even a glance spared as he closed the door and entered the school grounds. He sighed once again, wishing for such an unlikely thing was useless and a waste of his time, he'd be better off setting himself up as the killer of some random corpse he comes across - at least that would give him an ounce of entertainment, and brushing imaginary dust off his figure as he walked. 

He checked his watch; 

8:15. 

He was early. 

He smiled softly, **he** would say it was a perfect time to make friends, but no. He had one job and one job only and he was determined to complete it flawlessly,

After all, one would expect no less from a Togami; isn't that correct?

It was raining, he noted, not the bad kind of rain. It was the kind of rain that was soft, the type that you wouldn't notice if you didn't pay attention and when you're in it. The kind that wouldn't hinder you in the slightest in your movements. Sadly, all rain is still rain and rain get's your expensive suit wet and your controlling father upset, which in result gets you punished which means

.

.

.

.

Byakuya didn't want to think about it.

He grumbled, making his way towards shelter as he mumbled "colourful" complaints at the weathers decision to spite him that day. So engrossed in fact, that he didn't notice a certain Makoto Naegi tell his friends about a strange dream he had that included a blonde boy and a strange bear, but maybe that was for the best - Byakuya didn't like talking to people and the thought of having to do so was already making him nervous. 

Well, he didn't need to know the sick feeling that arose in his stomach whenever the thought entered his mind was nerves instead of disgust. What he didn't know couldn't hurt him, 

In most cases.

-_-_-_-_-_-

The day began like any other. The news of Hiro's latest vision of the future - this time aliens were coming to harvest their emotions for electricity - anecdotes of the Naegi families thrilling lives - Shuichi had been put on the case of a chain of mysterious deaths that was driving him crazy - and descriptions of Syo's white knight and how he nearly compared to her queen - it'd been quite a shock that Syo even came to school may be something special was happening today - rang happily through the air as Aoi munched happily on doughnuts. It was a normal day, and nothing happened to try and prove it otherwise.

Well, that depended on who you asked.

Hajime, for one, could vouch for a very normal day. Nagito had fallen into another one of his "hopegasms" and the aforementioned Naegi was trying desperately to reign said hopegasm-er out of his hopegasm-ing ways. Kazuichi and Gundham were bickering lightly in the background about something or other, Chiaki was somehow sleeping through all of the madness and faint shouting could be heard as the remaining ex-classmates took part in.. whatever they were doing. Just the regular for 77-B. 

Sayaka could also put up a compelling argument for the day being more regular than any other, half-heartedly listening to Miya's anecdotes of her life before her illness were a common occurrence for her, but the disappearance of Korekiyo did seem a bit out of place. Maybe it wasn't such a normal day, things like that don't happen much when half the people in you see daily are kidnapping victims who have been found, but if she was honest - this development wouldn't do much in the ways of mixing up her day.

Shuichi, on the other hand, would most likely rank that day as less than normal if asked. Kokichi's organization, all ten members, pulling a massive prank on the entirety of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles' first year **_before_ **class even started wasn't the most normal start to one's day. At least the prankster had given his beloved an umbrella before the event, so at least he wasn't soaked in carbonated grape juice - that was more than he could say for Kaede, who's normally white shirt was now a soft purple. All he could hope is that the measly frog umbrella Ouma had gifted him with would be enough to get him through the rest of the day in one piece. 

Finally, Makoto's day was... odd. A new transfer student, who looked strangely familiar, had asked him to give them a tour around the school. This, by itself, wasn't very weird - it was understandable that they would want a tour, the school building was very large (even if they were avoiding the first-year section out of fear Ouma-Kun would absolutely decimate them and their clothing). What was weird is that this absolute stranger seemed to know where they were going and, even stranger, was addressing him by his first name. (then again, could be the child of one of Izuru's business partners or something, if Izuru even talked about his siblings at work that is) 

"Come on Makoto," the taller commanded, "we don't have all day." They gestured towards the rooftop (when they got there Makoto didn't know) "Break ends soon and I'd rather not be late to class."

Makoto stepped through the door, thanking the blonde before turning back towards the boy - confusion laced through his kind expression, "Why are we up here..." 

"Togami, were you even paying attention in class?"

"Ah sorry, it just went over my head," Makoto apologised before trying again, "So, Togami-san, why are we up here?"

"What do you think, plebeian?" the blonde groaned "I want to speak to you."

"You could have talked to me in the courtyard?" he questioned quietly, confused as to why Togami felt the need to go through the trouble of lying to him when he could have just been upfront about it. 

Togami's reply was simple, "I didn't want to deal with more commoners then I had to."

Makoto decided to ignore the comment, for the sake of civility, and carried on "Okay then, what did you want to talk about Togami-san?"

There was a pause,

"...Byakuya," Togami mumbled, slightly unintelligibly

"What?"

"Call me Byakuya."

"Okay, Byakuya-Kun!" Makoto nodded, eager to find out what Byakuya deemed to be so important that he had to steal him to even begin to discuss "What did you want to talk about?"

"Do you care about your friends and family?"

.

.

.

"What?"

"I'm asking you a question, not that a commoner like you would understand," Byakuya sighed, not forgetting to insult Makoto while he was at it, "Do you care about your friends and family, are you happy how you are now? It's not that hard to understand."

"Yes," Makoto answered as if it was obvious what the answer was, causing Byakuya's lips to curve into what could be interpreted as a seedling of a smile "of course, I do."

"Good."

Makoto stared at the taller, waiting expectantly for another question and Byakuya's small "smile" faded and was replaced by a raised eyebrow,

"That's all I had to say, you can leave now." gesturing Makoto towards the door once again before leaving himself without giving Makoto the chance to reply.

"That was weird." Makoto pondered as he walked back to the classroom, their surprisingly short chat had taken up more time than he'd expected, 

Away from the strangely familiar face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **MUHAHAHA _SPEAK THE NAME OF EVIL AND IT SHALL APPEAR_** (....I don't need an excuse to quote Gundham right?)  
> There is no rhyme or reason as to why this part is named spite other than the fact I thought it'd be funny, but I think it was worth it!  
> I admit it, I'm British, that's why there's already so much rain in this story XD (yea I know it was sunny in the morning but like, it rains regardless of whether it's sunny or not XD)  
> Also no, Byakuya can't buy Nintendo - well not by himself anyway - I just thought it'd be funny (his personal wealth sums up to at least 4billion and Nintendo is worth more than that so....)  
> Also, before you leave, imagine Shuichi standing awkwardly with one of those frog umbrellas (you know the ones with the massive eyes) as a pool's worth of panta is dumbed on the v3 cast, human monokubs and what other 16-year-olds you feel the need to imagine at this moment  
> Anyways thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!  
> Farewell


	6. Efficacious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto discovered quickly, Byakuya really was what he said on his tin:  
> Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings!  
> this chapter took me forever (it's been 21 days, my two parts a month target was suffering) but it's here, it needs a beer and it's in existential fear!  
> Regardless, thank you for reading this far!  
> Go read Byakuya throws Makoto's soul gem out a window and regrets everything by Complete_Otakuness! It's a great take on this au and I love it!  
> I hope you enjoy it!  
> Cya in the endnotes!!

efficacious 

adjective 

UK /ˌef.ɪˈkeɪ.ʃəs/ US /ˌef.əˈkeɪ.ʃəs/ 

able to produce the intended result:

In other words, if human reproductive cloning is _efficacious_ and safe, its opponents have the burden of proof to show why it should be disallowed.

-_-_-_-_-_-

The rest of the day continued as normal, DICE managed to get an entire section of the school quarantined after successfully getting half of the faculty mixed up in at least one of his traps; the 77-B meetup when as planned and everyone went back to their assigned classes happy and fulfilled; Sayaka did nothing (it felt like nothing when compared to the hectic rush of her old life) and Makoto didn't think much further about his strange encounter with the transfer student on the roof. 

Byakuya had, as always, been outstanding - he couldn't afford to be anything else - and had garnered a lot of attention from being so. Being blonde, slender, quiet and wealthy gave him the aura of 'the distant prince' people seemed to adore, and once the misconception he was nice was gone he immediately became 'the tsundere with a hard shell', a prize for the daring. It was rather tiring, this endless cycle of unwanted attention from hopeless romantics and fans of overdramatic animes and dramas, but one had to get used to it. 

Makoto had noticed this almost immediately; the taller was intelligent, eloquent, athletic and just overall brilliant (he reminded him slightly of Izuru in his brilliance but he didn't think Byakuya would enjoy being compared to the sibling of a "commoner" - as he put it) and it was hard to keep one's eyes off him (Byakuya didn't seem fond of the constant stares so he did his best to keep his and Syo's eyes off of the blonde for the rest of the day). He'd grab your attention for his own flawlessly as if it was like breathing for him; he was absolutely breathtaking,

But Makoto wasn't going to tell him that, after all, he'd shown to not be the kindest person. Plus Aoi thought he was a dick, so any chance of having a civil conversation with the blonde without the brunette surveilling like an eagle hunting its prey had gone out of the window long ago. 

Regardless of how pretty the blonde was, thinking about him gave the shorter a headache, like his brain was trying to remember something it forgot. Something like a long lost memory, something hidden in the deep depths of his memory,

Like the face of a character in a dream. 

So he'd taken on avoiding thinking about him when possible, and Yasuhiro going on a rant about alien hamburgers definitely helped.

-_-_-_-_-_-

The rain had gotten better, as it always did, eventually fading to a clear sky and a soft breeze. It's cold breath sweeping over the school grounds, making the slightly overgrown grass of the courtyard even more lively than usual. It was a nice school, Byakuya supposed, it was nicer than that Imperial Capital's Imperial High School or Green Hills High School and better than Spiral High School but it wasn't quite on the level of 

In Utero School or Hope's Pass High School (which, to be fair, was pretty hard to beat considering one of the aforementioned pair was a palace and the other was a world-renowned geography and humanities school owned by the worlds greatest geographers and anthropologists but it never hurt to compare newer schools he came across) 

Meeting Syo hadn't gone exactly how he'd imagined it. Well, it was never going to go the way he imagined it, as his imagined way of meeting his stalker was to, in fact, never meet them, but a kind, overly enthusiastic girl was better than a middle-aged man on most days and Byakuya wasn't picky when it came to who watched him in his sleep. The girl had been over the moon about meeting him before proceeding to collapse, wake up and apologise profusely for all the lovesick notes she had sent him. She explained that she had DID and her alter was obsessed with him, that she had a girlfriend and sorry for any troubles they had caused him and quickly dashing away from him.

Byakuya didn't complain, he'd had this day many times before and complaining about something he was used to wasn't something he'd like to get into the habit of doing. Going to new schools was always the same, he never stayed long enough to get used to the students since father couldn't stay in one goddamned place and always dragged Byakuya around with him, so he'd ignore them instead of going the tactical route of getting used to cretins that he was burdened with seeing. It'd become a routine at some point, wake up, new school, ignore the students, do your job, observe the results, rinse and repeat.

It'd become his norm. 

So Byakuya wouldn't complain, there was no point in doing so.

He'd do it again eventually,

Well, hopefully not, but that's up to fate to decide.

-_-_-_-_-_-

They went back to the game store, just as Aoi had anticipated, Despair Beyond Hope had proved to be a worthwhile investment (according to the opinions of the ultimate danganronpa fans: Naegi Shuichi, Saihara Satoshi, Komaeda Nagito, Yamada Hifumi and Shirogane Tsumugi - all very credible resources) and she was going to buy a copy for her best friend. Makoto had followed her there, of course, he had little to do and the mall was a calming environment (on the contrary to the belief to literally everyone). The hum of people shopping, students wandering aimlessly, small children whining, the sound of normality calmed him. As if, in another life, he didn't hear it often. That was ridiculous though, in what world would he be doing something that would deprive him of something so simple?

Regardless, that doesn't matter. What really matters is that he's lost Aoi and now he's in a part of the mall he's never been to, he was sure he was somewhere near the back - the mess seemed to point to an abandoned section of the building - he just wasn't sure where. 

He wandered the abandoned section, mentally noting where he had been and where he was going (a cautionary step to make sure he at least knew how to get back to where he started), as the sun shone softly through the windows. 

It wasn't bright, the clouds wouldn't allow for that, it was a soft glow, gentle and efficient. Perfectly atmospheric. The silence and the soft glow, the rubbish being his only companion in the emptiness of the division. Beautifully eerie. He almost expected some kind of villain to make a dramatic entrance,

And maybe that's what he got.

There was a sound behind him, a loud bang ringing violently, penetrating the silence. Slicing through it viciously like a butcher attacking meat, sending a shock through him like a bucket of ice water thrown over him in the night. Makoto spun around violently, finding himself eye to eye with a small black and white bear.

It had a red eye and a wide grin. It wasn't the most appealing of creatures, it's more demonic appearance made it almost scary, but it grew on him quickly. It wasn't much larger than a teddy bear and looked cuddly and huggable and strangely similar to something he'd seen before. 

He shook his head, it's couldn't be the same bear, and turned his head towards the perpetrator of the noise,

Byakuya.

He was holding a gun, glaring sharply at the bear as he landed silently on the pavement. He raised the gun and turned the barrel. 

That's when things started to become even stranger. 

Byakuya disappeared, well not exactly. Makoto had seen him standing there, about ten metres away from the bear - he was sure of it - but the next second he was behind the bear, making his previous appearance look like a trick of the light. 

He hadn't teleported, just gone extremely fast. He had become a white blur as he travelled the distance at an impossible speed, bending the laws of nature to his own will, a magician completing a trick that even the greatest of sceptics could debunk.

Like a wizard, a warlock,

A magical boy.

Now Makoto was thinking rubbish. Byakuya? A magical boy? Atua, even the thought of the concept made him laugh. Regardless of the stupidity of it he couldn't help but wonder what had prompted the thought?

He wasn't a fan of the genre, he found classic magical girl shows repetitive, didn't have the stomach for the darker takes and the satires didn't play to his kind of humour. Maybe they'd had a magical girl related motive in danganronpa lately and he'd heard Shuichi or his uncle talking about it. No, that didn't make sense, the show had already had a magical girl character and wasn't the kind of franchise to milk a dry cow. Maybe it was the outfit the blonde was wearing had founded the thought, the flamboyant white suit with dark green embellishments definitely looked like something a magical boy would wear. As well as not looking like something the taller would wear voluntarily - Byakuya looked like the kind of person who preferred formal business attire over the big bows and sparkling sapphires that the blonde was currently donning. 

Another shot briefly shook him out of his stupor and his attention was drawn again to the bear who was dodging every shot with a miniature margin. It didn't look fearful at all (if stuffed bears could emote), if not a bit frustrated, only getting close to danger from Byakuya's unnatural speed and not any fault of its own. It seemed to be talking, but Makoto wasn't listening. In fact, Makoto wasn't paying attention at all, his mind so overwhelmed that it didn't leave much space for listening, let alone watching. So he just stood there, starring blankly at the attack before him, not truly taking any of it in. He briefly registered the bear hopping towards him, crying for some sort of help, and he barely considered the dangers of picking up a strange talking bear as he grabbed it and ran. He didn't think at all until Byakuya spoke to him.

Of course, it was Byakuya who shook him out of it. How ironic, the boy who had caused him so much confusion in the past few hours was the boy who shook him out of a confused trance. Byakuya really did everything, including shouting at him to put the bear down. 

"You idiot don't pick it up!"

Byakuya was suddenly in front of him, glaring him down, "Put it down."

"Why should I?" Makoto grumbled, rather tired of the taller being hostile towards him for no reason, "You were attacking them for no reason."

"You idiot this shouldn't be a question of why!" Byakuya spat back "I order you to put the bear down!" 

Togami's glare sharpened, cutting deeper into the brunette when he realized that Makoto wasn't going to follow his order. He opened his mouth to reply, probably to spit another insult or to repeat his command but was interrupted by a voice behind them. 

"There's no need to bicker." 

There stood a woman, around Hajime's age, with long blonde hair and soft green eyes. She looked tired as if she hadn't rested for hours like someone working their shift at a second job they shouldn't have to be working. 

She wore a green dress with a large red bow held together with a green diamond. It was short, about halfway down her thigh, and her waist was cinched with a white belt. She carried a long sabre that looked surprisingly sharp for it's intended use. The outfit seemed to be inspired by traditional European clothing (minus all the embroidery) but not quite, it had a foreign feel to it Makoto couldn't quite place. She had long dark socks, a matching bow in her hair and bright red shoes (which she probably killed a witch or two to gain).

Byakuya snarled "Your input isn't wanted or needed Nevermind-san."

"Leave, Togami-san," 'Nevermind-san' replied eloquently, seemingly unbothered by the youngers hostility "I'll escort him out of here, then we can talk about your conduct."

"No need," the blonde hissed, now even more upset "I'll take him home."

'Nevermind-san' sighed "Okay," she smiled "I'll meet you at the church."

Togami grumbled and if he wasn't who he was Makoto would have half expected him to pout, "Wait all you want, I won't show up." 

The blond started to march away from them, most likely in the direction of an exit, only pausing when he realized the shorter wasn't following him. 

He turned, his snarl now a displeased expression, and gestured for Makoto to follow him,

"Come on, plebian, don't you want to go home?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Word of the day is efficacious which basically means that something works because this chapter suffices.  
> I hope you enjoyed the first 2k part of this fic!  
> Fun Fact of the day: all of the schools mentioned so far in this fic are named after/are schools I pulled from canon (the one you all know 'Ultimate Academy For Gifted Juveniles' is the school from V3, 'Imperial Capital's Imperial High School' is Kokichi's previous high school which is the most supreme leader-y highschool name ever, 'Green Hills High School' is Byakuya's, 'Spiral High School' is Nagito's, 'In Utero School' is Sonia's and 'Hope's Pass High School' is Rantaro's!). Maybe this is because I'm lazy or maybe it's because I wanted some more of the canon universe in here, that's for me to know and for you to never find out.  
> Thank you so much for reading this far and I hope you have a good day!  
> BYE!
> 
> And finally:  
> Pineapples
> 
> Edit: just realised I instinctively called Shuichi Saihara XD went back to change that to Naegi


	7. Lucid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all that madness with the bear, the walk with Byakuya felt comfortingly calm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still see your shadows in my room  
> It's 1 am and I have an assessment today  
> I have to be up in five hours  
> I probably should sleep now  
> Thanks for the kudos tho  
> Well I'm going now  
> I hope you have some fun  
> Hello to the 4 subscribers  
> I can't remember how this song goes XD  
> I hope you enjoy it!

lucid  
adjective  
UK /ˈluː.sɪd/ US /ˈluː.sɪd/

clearly expressed and easy to understand, or (of a person) thinking or speaking clearly:   
She gave a clear and lucid account of her plans for the company's future.   
The drugs she's taking make her drowsy and confused, but there are times when she's quite lucid.

-_-_-_-_-_-

The evening was cold and dark, the glowing streetlights far behind them as they crept through the alleyways of the city. Byakuya didn't even consider going the usual way, as if there was someone likely to be there he didn't want to see in the crowd somewhere. 

Makoto sighed, his mind wasn't entirely cleared and while he was better than he was - thanks to the cold air. So he decided to take on a tactic he'd gained from living with two of the most renowned detectives in the city, enquiry:

"What happened back there?"

Byakuya shot him a look, obviously confused at the question before firmly brushing him off, "Nothing that concerns a person of the likes of you."

"It seems to be bothering you a lot," Makoto retorted "I'd like to know."

If that made Byakuya's heart soften and the idea of the shorter caring about him, well Makoto didn't need to know.

"What does and doesn't bother me is none of your business."

"It does," Naegi sighed as if he was stating the obvious "We're friends."

"Friends?"

Byakuya wanted to cry, or maybe puke. He couldn't tell the difference. For all he knew, he felt like jumping for joy. He couldn't place the feeling in the stomach that made his want to throw up the food that had settled there. A scarring feeling that made him petrified and happy at the same time. That engulfed him. That he didn't like.

He felt like he was betraying the boy, which made no sense, how would he betray him? He'd met the boy no longer than five hours ago, he had no bond with him to which he could betray. He couldn't, he just couldn't.

It was all so confusing and was leading him nowhere, so he decided to ignore it.

Makoto continued on as if he hadn't just destroyed the taller's entire universe, "You address me by my first name. I address you by yours, I think that classifies us as friends."

"Your logic is flawed." Byakuya grumbled, finding himself in a worse mood than before "Just because I decide to forgo formalities with you doesn't mean we're friends."

"You make Hiro call you Togami," the brunette pointed out "Toko even calls you master."

Byakuya sighed, "I told you already, I don't want to deal with more plebians than I have to," and then he added on "and that was her own choice, I didn't force her to address me in that way." just for good measure. To further invalidate Makoto's point.

"Still I think we're friends or at least close acquaintances," Makoto concluded, far too invested in the small matter then he should have been.

Byakuya sighed, not wanting to go on with the pointless discussion much longer,

"Believe what you want to believe."

The smile Makoto gave him made his sickness go away or made it worse.

Byakuya couldn't tell.

"So Byakuya," Naegi started "As your friend," his smile widened as he flexed the new card of his "I'd like to know what has been bothering you so much." 

Byakuya mentally frowned deeper, knowing enough about the shorter to conclude doing so in real life would convince the boy that what was 'bothering' him was doing so harshly, as he tried to fabricate a convincing lie. He didn't want Makoto to know about him being a 'magical boy' or about Monokuma, because (quite frankly) he didn't want anyone to know and the boy had seen too much to not connect the lie to the truth somehow. His head started to hurt as he quickly began to run out of ideas, making him resign to the best option: omitting information.

"Currently, I'm worried about my position."

That was close enough.

"Your position?" Makoto questioned, confused as to why someone who reminded him so much of his successful brother would have any reason to fear for a job.

"Yes," Byakuya looked to the side, whether to feign embarrassment or because he couldn't look the shorter in the eyes as he lied to him he didn't know. "I didn't intend to be caught attacking Monokuma, let alone let you see it and if someone would have heard," he paused, taking a breath before continuing "I'd lose my position."

Makoto had seemed to have already created his own narrative from the limited information given, making it easier for Byakuya to latch onto to it and make it his own "You're scared you'll get in trouble?" 

Togami was surprised he hadn't thought of that one himself, he was continually wary of angering his father, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say he had a fear of the situation itself. 

"If you want to word it that way, yes."

"If I may ask," the brunette smiled sympathetic (Byakuya hated sympathy, but if he had to deal with it for the sake of keeping his secrets he'd deal with the pain of seeing it) "Who would you get in trouble with?"

"My boss." he spouted, pulling from the narrative the short was creating while tactfully avoiding talking about his home life.

"So you're worried you'll lose your job?" Makoto continued, softly in the way a teacher would pry information out of a reluctant child. 

Byakuya didn't like it.

"It's more charity work," He snarled, his negative mood resurfacing, "I don't get paid."

"Then why are you scared to lose it?"

The question was fair. More than good in fact, it'd poke holes in almost every lie Byakuya came up with. He didn't need that job to do the same work and why would he want it if he wasn't getting paid? It wouldn't work for a mix of the two if he didn't want to stray too far from something he'd actually do, so lying by omitting was back again,

"I'd lose the protection." he spoke truthfully "The line of work I'm in is very... territorial and the organisation I'm with at the moment has a large group of people working on an equally large space of land to give everyone equal work." He sighed, revealing that something a simple as this bothered him was trickier than he thought. "If I were to lose my position, it wouldn't be against the rules to attack me for my territory," 'and it would hinder my work' was left unspoken, Byakuya definitely didn't want Makoto to know about that. "And I don't get along the best with my co-workers therefore the chance of an attack is high." 

"So you're scared that if you lose your job people are going to attack you?"

"Yes."

"The apologise!"

There was silence for a second as Byakuya tried to process what he had just been told.

"What?" he deadpanned.

"If you apologise to your co-workers then maybe they won't attack you if you lose your job," Makoto explained, quite proud of himself to come with such a simple solution to Byakuya's big problem.

"Of course you wouldn't get it," Togami sighed, if he wasn't who he was Togami might have rolled his eyes, "This isn't a simple situation of apologies, even if my co-workers and I were on good terms the chance they would attack me is still there and prevalent." He quickly debunked Makoto's quick solution.

"Okay, then apologise to your boss," Naegi compromised "Surly if you apologise it should be fine."

"It isn't Kokichi I'm scared of," Byakuya lamented, a slight annoyance at himself for using an actual problem in his life for his cover. "It's the organisation as a whole," he described "people will grab at any chance to get me terminated, Kokichi isn't the kind of person to ignore the demands of the organisation."

Makoto blinked "Kokichi?"

He messed up, didn't he?

"Do you know of him?" Byakuya sought.

He was holding his breath, having any obvious connects between him and the shorter would make things... complicated. Maybe it was a different Kokichi?

"Maybe, he has the same name as my brother's boyfriend." Makoto pondered, before describing the possible boss as quickly as he could, "He's short with bright purple hair, loud and has a thing for large scale pranks." he paused before he could any further "Is that your boss?"

Nevermind, Makoto knew Kokichi.

Byakuya gave in to his fate, he couldn't deny it now, Kokichi was notorious for bragging about their organisation to every person he lay eyes on, "...Yes." 

The brunette let out a shocked laugh, "You're kidding?"

"I wish I was." Byakuya wasn't lying then.

Makoto's chuckling didn't cease as he seemed to find amusement in Byakuya's mistake. "I can't imagine Kokichi managing a group much larger than his prank squad without complete world destruction, let alone an organisation as influential on people's lives like the one you described." The giggling continued, once again lightening the blonde's fluctuating mood.

The brunette took a few moments to breathe "Sorry," he smiled "carry on."

As they turned the corner, Byakuya could pick up the familiar sound of Ouma shouting from the house they were approaching. Some kind of television he assumed, getting the liar to shout was taxing; a feat only the brave, the nosy and the exceptionally moronic could achieve.

Luckily Danganronpa provided all three of these. 

Byakuya shook his head, gesturing towards the door as he replied "As much as I'd love too we've arrived at your house and from what I can hear," pausing to let the other hear their shouting "It's Danganronpa night."

A soft and fond smile spread across Makoto's face and the sound of the teenagers (and adults, Satoshi and Nagito were both very much over eighteen - even if the later was only twenty) shouting. "Okay," he shot a smile at the taller, giving him a final look before opening the door "Bye, Byakuya."

The other nodded, watching the boy as he entered the door and began to walk away "Bye, Makoto."   
  
Makoto decided to not question why Byakuya knew where he lived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me realising I can call Makoto Naegi as long as Komaru, Hajime, Izuru and Shuichi aren't in the chapter (also you have no idea how much I miss calling Shuichi Saihara and Hajime Hinata right now, their surname was always my go-to to replace their first name when it got too tiring but now there's only so many adjectives I can use to describe Naegi.)  
> Regardless I made a bad lucid dreams joke earlier and now I must leave so I can actually sleep XD  
> Ciao!  
> Thanks for reading!!


	8. Disequilibrium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto's world enters a state of disequilibrium.  
> Well, partially.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings and salutations!  
> I hope you're all okay! (haha hope)  
> This is part one of this part. I was originally going to finish it but I'm partway through and it's already 3k so I'm splitting it in two because I think it's unfair to have a 4/5-6k part when some others barely hit 1.5k and one is literally 800 words.  
> It has nothing to do with me being scared to write Gundham who makes an appearance in what used to be the latter half of this chapter, absolutely nothing.  
> On the bright side (of life) it means this fic has surpassed 10k words!  
> Regardless, I'm glad you made it so far! I hope you continue reading! Thank you for the kudos and bookmarks! I hope you enjoy it and see you at the endnotes!  
> Ultimate Mad Lad out!

disequilibrium  
noun   
ECONOMICSUK /ˌdɪsiːkwɪˈlɪbriəm/

the situation in which an economy is experiencing change, for example, when the demand for goods at a particular price is not equal to the supply of goods at that price:   
It is important to regulate disequilibrium in order to minimize its impact on the corporate marketplace.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Byakuya left then.

When Makoto got home, he was welcomed with the sight of the ultimate Danganronpa fans (with the addition of Ouma, Hajime and, most importantly, Kiibo) partaking in their biweekly Danganronpa watch party. They were all huddled up on the sofa (Satoshi and Shuichi on either side) all shouting at the television as if the protagonist (who even Makoto would admit was rather dense) could hear them. 

They barely fit on the singular sofa that the Naegis (Satoshi insisted they were referred to as such even if they lived in the house of a Saihara) owned. In fact, they were practically lying on each other, even with Ouma almost sitting on Shuichi's lap and Hajime on the arm of the chair. (Komaeda had insisted he sat on the floor because he wouldn't want people risking their comfort for trash like him. Hajime made sure he had himself firmly planted in between Ouma and Shirogane before he could finish the self-deprecating rant). The whole thing was a nosophobe's nightmare, a breeding ground for germs. 

As Makoto surveyed the room he noticed a few regular faces were missing, and, since talking with Byakuya had gotten him in the mood for enquiry, he couldn't help but ask.

"Did something come up with Akamatsu-san?" he questioned, having to repeat it to get an answer out of the group.

"Something..." Shuichi breathed, pointed a look at the purplenette next to him as he answered,

"And Amami-kun?" Makoto continued, deciding to not question the lack of Shinguji (many learned never to question the teen for little actually understood his answer) and skip onto the final missing regular. 

If Makoto had been more observant, he might have noticed that Komaeda tensed at the mention of the green-haired boy; sadly Makoto wasn't the most astute of men. 

"Work issues," Ouma pipped, seemingly unbothered as he explained, "he's being a good follower and fixing a problem at the organisation." the teen's hand made a gesture to signify waving an object away, to disregard the subject and move on.

"Ah," Makoto murmured, in an instant understanding, "Something happened at the organisation, no wonder Byakuya was so worried." the brunette smiled as he made his way to group, plopping himself by his uncle's leg and ignoring the contents of the show. If Ouma tensed at the implication of an outsider knowing the truth of DICE? About their little branch of the foundation? Well, that was Byakuya's problem to deal with later. 

Kiibo lept down from Satoshi's lap, where he was residing up until current, in favour of lying in the smaller's, making Makoto's grin soften and his shoulders relax. Makoto didn't particularly like Danganronpa, it's moral dubiety and violence was a turn off for him but his mind was still trying to process all the new information and the comfort of the room lulled the feeling. So watch danganronpa he did, until he fell asleep with his head resting on Satoshi's thigh. 

-_-_-_-_-_-

A soft whisper awoke him, the room was empty at this point. All the visitors had left; the residents had gone to sleep (well, they had gone to their rooms, one could only assume they were asleep) and the television was switched off. A silence so different from the booming atmosphere of the company earlier it was almost startling. 

"Makoto?" his uncle muttered, gently shaking him awake and guiding Kiibo off him.

The shorters eyes slowly pried open and he turned his head slowly, "Yea?" 

Satoshi smiled, "As comfortable as you look," he chuckled, helping the shorter up "you can't sleep here."

Makoto groggily agreed as he allowed the older to lead him to his room, showing him softly past the furniture, down the corridor, up the stairs and into his door before patting him lightly on the back and closing the door.

"Goodnight, love you," Saihara murmured through the small opening in the door.

Makoto wiped his eye, got into his bed and whispered back to the door,

"Love you too."

-_-_-_-_-_- 

"Hey."

Makoto groaned, annoyed that he had been woken up again before his alarm, waving off the voice in a slur of indecipherable complaints. This didn't seem to deter the other since the voice came once more.

"Hey! Brat!"

The brunette groaned as he turned over. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and faced the being who had - rudely - interrupted his peace. As he opened his eyes, he felt his heart drop out of his chest; what was he doing here? The now-familiar monochrome face of the bear Byakuya tried to kill filled his sight, breaking the damn holding back the sea of feelings Togami had managed to hold back. Naegi wouldn't say he disliked the bear, it had done nothing to found any negative emotions before it, but its connection to the situation still filled him with feelings he didn't particularly like to feel. Regardless of the panic, the bear seemed to cause him, it seemed less than pleased at the way he was acting. Makoto didn't like to upset others, so he pushed back the panic and focused on the bear's unmoving mouth.

Monokuma, he thinks that's what Byakuya called him, growled - bearing his claws as he shouted at the boy, "Brat, listen to me!" 

Naegi groaned out, "What do you want?". His voice was still recovering from his abrupt awake and no matter how polite he tried to be, he couldn't change that. 

A smile spread on the bear's face as he answered: "Your soul, of course!", giggling brightly at the shock on the taller's face as he said so.

"I'm kidding," He grinned, that was one expression the bear definitely could express, "I want you to become a magical boy!" it's hand shot up into the air and flew back down, presumably pointing at the brunette. It paused, waiting for the boy to respond.

Makoto blinked, "A magical boy?"

The bear's smile faltered slightly at the boy seeming lack of attention, "Yea, like a magical girl, but male."

There was a pause as Makoto sat to think, running the idea through his already clouded brain as he tried to come to a conclusion. His eyes twinkled slightly as the idea seemed to click and he finally asked, 

"Like Byakuya?"

The bear's grin widened again. "Yes, now you're catching on!" it placed it's hand on the duvet and ran it along the fabric as if it was thinking, "I want you to work for me."

Makoto blinked once more. "Work for you?" He was certain Byakuya had said he worked for Ouma, but maybe Ouma worked for this bear? Everything suddenly became a lot more confusing as Makoto tried once more to process the new information.

Monokuma seemed to be annoyed but, again, can stuffed bears really emote? "Geez, you kids always ask a lot of questions." It's smile slacked as it looked almost tired. "Yes, I want you to work for me, now hurry up and panic so I can explain what's going on." The bear threw its hands into the air, it's exasperation at Naegi clear as he complained.

There was a silence that was a bit longer than brief. 

"Don't go silent!" Monokuma cried, suddenly looking more desperate than exasperated before it began to rant. "You know what? I'll explain it anyway! I'm nice like that after all." The bear barely gave Makoto the time to nod before it continued. "I want to hire you as a magical boy, I give you a soul gem, you fight witches, the world gets saved. Rinse and repeat. Simples!" Completing yet another dramatic gesture when it finished its explanation.

Makoto stared at the monochrome bear, barely understanding the circumstances let alone what in Atua's name a 'soul gem' was, pondering whether it would be the right thing to do to agree to become a magical boy. Was it really a good idea to collaborate with a bear Byakuya seemed so adamant on killing? Surely, if it had managed to get the blonde to actively pursue it, it must have done something horrific. Yet Makoto was to still see it be anything more than mildly annoying. Was it worth it? Was it not? His head spun with questions he didn't even have the means to answer, and a sharp pain ran through it. He was well and truly too tired for this nonsense. He needed to sleep on it and maybe ask Byakuya since he seemed to be well versed in this magical boy business. 

Yes, he just needed time. He'd ask the bear for more time, it couldn't be that hard to turn a magical (possibly alien) build a bear reject down!

The bear, probably annoyed at the time it had taken the boy to answer sliced through the silence. "So will you do it?" 

Makoto inhaled deeply. He just had to say it, just say he needed more time. It was not hard at all, the bear wasn't a threat and it wouldn't hurt to have more time to think about it. It was a win-win!

"I," he hesitated before continuing, "I need some time to think." The pressure fell off his shoulders the second the words left his mouth. 

The bear nodded. "Okay!" It chimed, smiling a different smile to before. It was almost satisfed, or maybe kinder. He couldn't tell, his natural affinity for empathy hadn't stretched its wings to stuffed bears just yet. "Speak to Sonia when you've decided!" 

Makoto didn't know who 'Sonia' was, he'd work that out later. Maybe he'd ask Byakuya.

"And don't tell your blonde boyfriend about this," His boyfriend? He didn't have a partner let alone a blonde one. Makoto sat pondering for a second before he came to the realization: oh, it meant Byakuya. Stress ran through him as he realised he couldn't go to his only solid bank of information for help. "After all, we wouldn't want little old me getting hurt now, would we?" 

The bear waved to him as it plopped away. The wide smile on his face the last thing Naegi saw before everything went dark.

-_-_-_-_-_- 

Makoto woke up (again?), wiping his eyes as he rolled out of bed - glad to see that there was in fact not a black and white bear standing there to greet him. He slowly trudged his way towards the bathroom to get ready for another, hopefully, ordinary day. 

There was a picture on his bedside table, one of seven copies of that photo in the house. One in each room in the house and one in the living room. It depicted five children holding hands, the two oldest carrying one child each and the middle child clinging happily onto the green-eyed twin's arm. 

The photo was taken thirteen years ago. Izuru and Hajime were almost identical back then, their eye colour being the only real thing to differentiate them with (Izuru's hair got darker over the years while Hajime's stayed the same shade.) They'd both had the same hairstyle, were the same height and had the same hair colour - they'd thoroughly enjoyed telling strangers their names the wrong way around just to confuse them. 

At the time the photo was taken Makoto was five, and while he was well behaved enough to not have to be the constant centre of his brother's attention, he still relied on the older two a lot. The same was true for Shuichi, who quite literally clung to Izuru whenever it was possible. Which, to be fair, he never really stopped doing. Whenever Shuichi was upset, or anxious or anything really he could be found in Izuru's room venting out his sorrows or just clinging to the older. Izuru had even taken up walking Shuichi to school until he was twelve and every partner the younger had ever had, had gotten a stern 'talking-to' from the older. Now that Izuru was out of the house more often he'd taken to venting to Makoto instead, which the brunette didn't mind whatsoever. 

Komaru, on the other hand, was more hyperactive than a gremlin drenched in water. Makoto would be lying if he said he could remember everything that happened the day the photo was taken but he could clearly remember Hajime having the coax the younger into getting onto his back to ensure she didn't speed away never to be found. 

The picture was taken the day Satoshi had won custody of them if Makoto's memory served him well. When Naegi Daisuke and Naegi Sakiya were confirmed dead, Satoshi had fought hard for custody of his sister's children. The day he finally got it he'd cried happier tears then he'd ever cried before. The event made prefectural television and even some minor mentions in national. Saihara Satoshi was a well-renowned detective and the media just couldn't resist the family drama of someone so well known but, according to Hajime, their uncle hadn't let the paparazzi anywhere near them. Mostly because none of them was old enough to consent the distribution of their information, but also because Shuichi - who was three at the time - was (and still is) very camera shy and he didn't want to spook the toddler. 

Makoto smiled fondly at the photo as he turned to leave his room, having thoroughly given up on getting his ahoge to lie flat.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Breakfast had passed quickly with the tension between Ojiisan and Shuichi completely dissipated - Makoto assumed something had happened in Danganronpa the previous night that they had agreed on, he couldn't remember entirely though, as he fell asleep. The conversation was light as Satoshi filled Komaru in on what she had missed. Komaru tended to skip class trials as she didn't enjoy the executions or the conflict as much as she enjoyed watching the in-between trial shenanigans so all necessary information was relayed to her the next day.

They'd run out of orange juice, which meant Hajime would have to make it through the entire day without his daily fill, resulting in him being rather grumpy but if one ignored that it'd been a normal morning. Something Makoto didn't even know he'd been craving. Overall it'd been a good morning and Makoto was in a brilliant mood.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Byakuya was in a, particularly bad mood that day. He didn't know why but anyone with a brain cell could guess it probably had something to do with the bear or Makoto. If he wasn't assigned on that stupid mission with the violet jack of diamonds (saying the team names out loud always made them sound more regal than they actually were) he probably would have spent the night sulking in his room but sadly Rantaro was too mentally unfit to do the collaboration so he was plagued with the job instead. 

In hindsight, it was impressive how quickly he had managed to get himself transferred to his preferred team. Normally, if a magical person moved locations they'd do mostly solo or collab missions with several different teams until the found a team that melded properly, Byakuya had gotten his transfer out of the way in a few hours. How he had managed to convince Kokichi to let him do so was beyond him, but he wasn't complaining. 

What he really had to focus on was not making any more slip-ups. After all, he didn't want to do this again.

-_-_-_-_-_-

As soon as school finished Aoi dragged Makoto with her to visit Sayaka, she normally wouldn't visit the younger on a weekday but she couldn't hold in her excitement to give her the game she purchased. Plus the other had a considerably sizeable crush on Makoto and Aoi knew the gift and Naegi would make the bluenettes day so much better. 

They were speeding towards the hospital when Aoi spotted something in the corner of her eye. She made a swift change in direction as she followed it. They were moving away from anything that would trigger her (there was no water in sight and the local pavilion was a good while in the opposite direction) so there was no need to be scared, right?

She dragged Makoto down an alleyway, changing direction every time her pursuee did so, before finally reaching their final destination. It was a dead-end, it was dark and there was nothing particularly special about it. Tall buildings, the sound of cars a few minutes away, like every other dead-end in the city, the thing that really made it unique was the three oddly dressed people standing at the end of it. There was the person they had been following, a teenage girl with blonde hair around the age of sixteen donning a pink and white corseted dress with staves decorating the skirt. The girl held a conductors baton with a bright pink morganite gem end as she ran towards the others. There was a young woman. Also with blonde hair who was wearing a green dress inspired by traditional European clothing. She wore long dark thigh-high socks and two large red bows (the one on her chest held together with a large green diamond). She had matching red shoes and was armed with a sabre held to her side with the white belt that was sinching her waist. Then there was Byakuya who wore a prince-like suit, it was a pristine white with green embellishments and a large green bow at the bottom of his jacket. A pocket watch was clipped to his jacket, that sported a sapphire on its case and he held an equally pristine revolver scarily calmly because, excluding his experience as a magical boy, he'd never held a gun before.

Aoi tilted her head to the side as she pointed at the tallest blonde, "Is that Togami-san?" her voice filled with surprise that Byakuya would ever wear such an outfit voluntarily. 

"Yes," Naegi nodded, slightly more used to the sight. He surveyed the others before continuing, "And Akamatsu-san from 1A." He pointed at the teenager in pink, recognising her from his few appearances at the biweekly danganronpa binge.

Asahina nodded back, "You know her?"

"Yes," Makoto whispered, "She's Shuichi's best friend."

They turn their attention back to the group of blondes as said people began to talk,

Akamatsu began to question Byakuya, "I thought Rantaro was assigned with us?" The youngest's confusion evident as she asked.

Byakuya sighed as if he'd been asked the question before, as he began to speak "Kokichi gave him the month off," he answered curtly "Due to Korekiyo's disappearance."

Akamatsu nodded "Okay." 

The one in green turned to Akamatsu, "Are you ready Kaede?"

Akamatsu grinned, making her way towards the dead-end and hitting her baton against it, causing a mesh-like door to appear. It seemed to be a large elevator of sorts with a golden button next to it and relatively small encased walls.

"Always," She cheered, opening the door and stepping into the lift "Let's do this!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> Kaede has joined your party! (mOnOkUmA hAs JoInEd yOuR pArTy)  
> Word of the part is disequilibrium! It basically is dosruption of the norm, for a more detailed click [here](http://lucytownsendasmedia.weebly.com/todorovrsquos-equilibrium-theory.html) !  
> Random but monokuma is surprisingly fun to write.  
> Thank you for reading!  
> Thank you so much for the Kudos and stuff!  
> I hope you enjoyed!  
> Ciao!


	9. Rubicon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If anyone told Makoto what had happened in the past two days, about the bear and the magical lift and everything else, he'd probably scratch it up to some weird delusion, a jest.  
> Maybe it was, this world is full of jests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Is there any point in denying that I'm scared to write Gundham and I am prolonging the time I have until I must write him into the fic? At least I can promise that he'll be in the next part! This may or may not be because I cut this off the scene before he makes his appearance... what no that wouldn't be me! Totally not! Hahaha...  
> Regardless, thank you for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed, there's a Korekiyo quote somewhere in this part which is fun and thanks for the kudos and stuff!  
> And with that:  
> See you in the end notes!

Rubicon

noun

UK /ˈruː.bɪ.kɒn/ /ˈruː.bɪ.kən/ US /ˈruː.bɪ.kɑːn/

**cross the Rubicon.**

To do something that you cannot later change and will strongly influence future events: 

Most EU states have crossed the Rubicon and adopted the euro.

-_-_-_-_-_-

They'd sat there for a while, staring in silent awe (and anticipation) at the mesh doors before anything happened. Makoto wasn't entirely sure why they stayed after it became clear the trio of blondes wouldn't come out, but he decided not to question it. 

The pair sat silently, listening to the roaring of society carrying on, oblivious to whatever they had begun to discover. Well, Asahina nad Naegi had been doing that, until something made society stop. 

-_-_-_-_-

A blinding glow encased the sky, coating the sky with a blinding light, engulfing the minds of all venerable. Everymind painted in stress, panic or sadness; every consciousness weakened to its breaking point drawn to the light. Drawn to its promise,

"In death, we will be saved."

An empty promise, none of them really knew what death would bring them, but souls believe what they believe. Nothing is going to stop them.

People evacuated their responsibilities, dragging themselves down the roads, joining the seas of others doing the same. The bodies of the impatient dropping on the street, creating a barricade between the believers and their cause.

They were ignored.

Followers plodded down the pavements like a hoard of zombies, craving life in their lifeless existence. Hungry for hope in this sea of despair,

Nagito was lucky to have his magical boy immunity.

-_-_-_-_-_-

There was a silence, so immersing that it rendered Makoto almost deaf. So silent that the dripping of pipes left on before the disruption filled Aoi's head, sending her head into a frenzied spiral as she began to panic. So silent that they could practically hear a green-haired teen leap from time and space to get to them.

"Sorry I'm late, I," He paused, looking around before scratching his neck and chuckling, "I guess they got impatient." He played around with the small green device in his hand - an old compass - as he paced away from the wall. 

He looked like an adventurer from a fantasy game, all cargo trousers, unnaturally white shirt, a hat that hid his bright green hair and a dark green fanny pack. If you ignored the compass and the bejewelled emerald ring, he could pass for some Indiana Jones rip off or a nature documentary presenter. Makoto recognised his as Amami, the missing affiliate from the earlier Danganronpa gathering, and Amami remembered him as Makoto because he began sprinting right towards them.

"Naegi-Kun what are you doing here?" He smiled calmly, "I didn't expect to see you in a place like this."

Makoto didn't answer. He couldn't really, Makoto didn't know why Aoi brought him here, or why he stayed. He didn't understand why they didn't go straight to the hospital, or abandoned post after a few minutes of waiting. Naegi, once again, was confused about his situation, and as such, didn't have an answer to give.

Amami sighed, "Nevermind that," he began to play with the compass fervently as if trying to point it in the right direction, "I need you two to get out of here, as far away as possible would be nice. It isn't the safest to stay right next to the eye of the storm."

Asahina's eyes widened, a deep-set fear creeping through her surface as she questioned, "Storm?"

Amami nodded "Yea, I'd describe the commotion out there as a storm."

It was Makoto's turn to be surprised. "Commotion?" it had gone quiet, sure, but nothing had happened out there. They would have heard it, right?

"You haven't seen it," The greenette chuckled, running his hand down his face in surprise and exasperation, "You two surprise me, how do you manage to miss a mass hypnosis." He lowered his voice, careful not to let the pair hear the rest of his reaction, "a real wonder of humanity." 

He smiled "Well, it's better if you don't know, ignorance is bliss and all that." Amami offered his now empty hand to Asahina and signalling to give hers to Makoto, having worked out the angle of his compass and ready to use it "Grab my hands. I'll get us out of here." Aoi clasped his hand shakily and reached hers out to Makoto who stared at it and blinked,

"No,"

The surprise was evident on the pair's faces, both shocked at the words that came out of the shorter brunettes mouth. 

Makoto didn't stop with his surprises "I want to stay." he decided firmly, he wanted to know what was going on with Byakuya and this was a foolproof (Byakuya wasn't a fool) way to do that. 

"Fine," Rantaro breathed "I'll get someone to look over you though," he pulls a phone out of his fanny pack and begins to dial a number. The teen brought his phone to his ear, holding his fingers to his lips. "I'm technically not meant to be working right now; I'd rather Byakuya doesn't find out before Kokichi does." he lifted his finger and turned his attention to the recipient of his call. "Hey, Nagito?" He smiled. "Can you do me a favour?" 

A pause.

"Thanks, meet me at the labyrinth entrance. Thank you." Rantaro's grin widened. Turning his attention back to the older pair as he placed the phone back into the pack, "Komaeda's coming to watch over you until..." he pauses, taking a breath before continuing. "The witch is defeated." He readjusted the compass, this time with more ease, and waved at them. He pressed the button, "Bye!" Amami Rantaro then disappeared. 

-_-_-_-_-_- 

Komaeda swung towards the labyrinth, not entirely sure what his task was but trusting the younger enough to know it must be important. He landed cleanly next to the beginning of the alleyway (he reminded himself to wear a hard hat next time he travelled using his chains, in hopes of preventing the inevitable concussion the next time). He spoke briefly to the greenette before he began to make his way towards the entrance.

It had been an inconvenient time to be called to action, he'd made plans with Fuyuhiko and Kazuchi, but when duty called; he would always answer. He'd been considering telling the pair, well telling Kuzuryuu he was sure the pink-haired one had discovered his secret already, about DICE and his actual job. Nagito had wanted them to actually know what happened if he were to magically disappear and had planned to tell them that day. That could wait.

The white-haired boy reached the entrance to the labyrinth with ease, almost instinctively knocking his wrist against the wall to open it before realising why he had been called here in the first place. He turned around and surveyed his surroundings, quickly spotting the pair and making his way towards them. The chains wrapped around his wrists stretched out, creating a shell around the three of them, effectively shielding them from the witch if their luck decided to fail them.

"Hello Naegi-kun, Asahina-san," he smiled "how are you today?"

Naegi smiled, "I'm fine, if not a bit confused, how about you?"

Komaeda smiled, placing his hands together as he replied "I'm just fine, even better now that someone as hopeful as you is caring about the wellbeing of trash like," he paused, feeling Hajime's disappointment from afar, before correcting his mistake "Sorry."

Makoto scratched his neck nervously, knowing first hand that they'd dodged a bullet, as the taller continued speaking. "How are you, Asahina? You look a bit dumbfounded."

The question shook Asahina out of her stupor as she began to talk again, "How did you do that?"

Nagito blinked "What?"

"The arm chain thingy," She waved her arms around as if to replicate his actions, "It looks so cool!"

"Ah, it's nothing special," Komaeda smiled, softly chuckling as he spoke, "You should see Kokichi and Byakuya work together, their power honestly scares me."

An excited grin stretched across Aoi's face, "Tell me more!"

"I wish I could," Nagito answered guiltily "I, unfortunately, don't have the necessary permissions to do so,"

"So," Asahina compromised, her eyes still glistening with excitement "What do they do?" 

-_-_-_-_-_- 

They'd sat there talking about everything they could think of - steering firmly away from the subject of hope when it came up - the pair of friends chatting happily as their protector watched from the sidelines. They were a lot more comfortable in the chain ball - pure luck on Nagito's side - conversing comfortably until the trio of blondes arrived back outside.

"Nagito?" a familiar voice questioned, seeming genuinely confused to see the dome of chains lying next to the wall, "What is the meaning of this?"

Komaeda smiled, retracting the chains and waving at the figure, "Hello, Byakuya," 

Togami's stare tightened, "Nagito." 

"I came to help you," The older started "not that I doubted your power I just thought you may be tired. I can't let the hopes of the world be sleep deprived! And I saw them here, I made a dome around them to shield them from the chaos. Since I can't detach these," Komaeda gestured to the chains around his wrists "I decided to stay and keep an eye on them." 

Togami opened his mouth, with probable intent to make a cut at the shorter, before realising his surroundings and biting his tongue. He slid up his glasses (that somehow had fallen down) as he attempted to cover his tracks "I suppose that's fair."

"I feel like I've seen every member of your team except who I was meant to see today," Akamatsu tilted her head, before quickly adding "No offence Komaeda-san."

"None was taken."

Sonia surveyed the pair, observing them carefully before making a decision, "I believe I should explain our situation to our visitors," she stated, "They've seen so much already, it'd be wrong to leave them uninformed." It wouldn't hurt to let two more people in on the big secret. Right?

Kaede nodded, "It would."

The pair turned to Byakuya (who up to this point had been isolating himself from them). Looking expectantly at him as they waited for his opinion on the matter. 

It took Byakuya a second to realise they were looking at him with his attention so violently scattered, but they didn't need to know that.

The tallest glared, raising his eyebrow at the blondes as he spoke. "What are you looking at me for?" he questioned aggressively, "I thought you were a princess, you don't need my permission to do things." Byakuya turned his head away from them, touching his one again fallen glasses as he made a final blow "Unless, of course, your title is nothing but a fraud."

The attack went ignored.

"Okay then," Sonia beamed, grinning at her underclassmen as she continued, "You two can meet me at the front of the ultimate academy after school tomorrow, I'll explain then." she placed her hands together in joy, "We'll have tea!"

-_-_-_-_-_- 

Aoi did make it to see Sayaka in time, if not a bit late. She gave her the game, they spoke for a short while. Her assumption about the girl's boredom seemed to hold true if the excitement at something to do could speak for anything. The pair had talked about everything.

Well, almost everything.

The entire situation had floated to the back of Aoi's mind, lurking like a monster in hiding. She'd almost forgotten about it, if she was being honest, spending time with her friends made worries fly away. Not that she'd forget something so important, no, of course, no. Just Sayaka made the worries vanish, like the people in the mist. She'd always had that effect on people, it was why they'd gotten so much closer in the joint time in the hospital - no matter how short it was. Talking with her always made things better.

Always.

So Asahina completely forgot about blondes and batons and mysterious elevators in walls, because she was at peace and with that peace, she would forget anything. 

-_-_-_-_-_-

The next day was completely normal up until the meeting (Komaru had failed at buying orange juice meaning that Hajime was still dealing with withdrawal systems but something told him some magic luck will fix that problem eventually). He'd gone through the motions of his day, heard another strange prophecy from Yasuhiro (something about them being the survivors of their own danganronpa game? That was a bit of a far stretch if you asked... anyone really). Seen Mondo lather way too much butter on everything and witnessed the shock at the surprising amount of salt in the cafeteria. He could only imagine that Shinguji was absent that day as there was no day the taller didn't manage to put salt in/on everything he ate. Everything had been absolutely normal, but the world wasn't going to let the boy have that. No, of course not, because as Makoto walked towards the designated meeting place, he realised that his life wasn't going to be quite normal ever again.

He scratched his neck, chuckling as he reached them, "Sorry I'm late, I got caught up in the invasion on my way here." 

Aoi laughed, immediately understanding the other's situation as she did. "That's still going on?"

"Yea." Makoto nodded, laughing softly with her.

Sonia blinked, looking between the pair as she tried to comprehend the topic, "Excuse me but the invasion?"

Makoto searched for an accurate description of the situation before settling on the most descriptive phrase he could think of:

"Ouma-kun."

"Oh," Sonia nodded, instantly following the topic as she looked the boy up and down. If one ignored the absence of the distinctive Naegi ahoge, Makoto looked well for someone who accidentally stumbled into DICE (even if it was only ten members), "Well, on the bright side, you look relatively unscathed."

Naegi patted his flat head, still new to the sensation of the strand lying down (or maybe it was gone, he couldn't tell), as he thought back to the absolute decimation that was the corridor he walked through and began to count his blessings. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, we better get going," Sonia grinned, heading away from the building as she spoke, "I have a lot to tell you both," She paused momentarily, before widening her grin and continuing forwards.

"And Kazuichi's tea is heavenly."

-_-_-_-_-_-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again!  
> Nagito up. Rantaro was meant to be here though, I could never leave my boy out.  
> Yes Kaz makes good tea, yes it has a gallon of sugar in it, what about it? Okay, I feel the need to explain myself, I find the concept of Kazuichi (of all people) being good at making tea. Also if Sonia asked for it he makes it, I don't think he drinks it himself but it's the only thing he can cook XD.  
> Oh, I have an archive of this fic saved on Wattpad (just for the occasion that I somehow lose this fic having an overall of 3 full saved versions of the fic on different platforms would be useful) so if anyone would like me to post the fic on there (it wouldn't be a problem, I'd just need to remind myself to post it on both platforms) just give me the word and I'll do it!  
> Word of the day is rubicon! Not very subtle I know but it means the point of no return (for me as well, I have 9 parts I might as well finish it now XD)  
> Thank you for reading, thanks for the kudos and the supportive comments! I hope you enjoyed this part,  
> じゃまた。 (limited Japanese knowledge is back!)
> 
> Minor edits.


	10. Exposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, at the rate things are going, Makoto could see dinosaurs and it wouldn't surprise him. No that's not hyperbole, he just had a magical (probably alien) bear and a supposed princess (according to said alien bear) tell him he had magical potential, the dinosaurs would absolutely nothing compared to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY LATE CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR (sorry I thought I'd have this part out by new years but I ended up coming into complications take this as my apology). Yes, I did write Gundham, you proud of me? (I spent all the time I had with my brother this Christmas calling him a mortal and just overall becoming a walking talking dnd character to prepare for this, I can't talk about its effectiveness...)  
> But regardless,  
> Thank you for reading this far, I wish you have a great 2021 and you enjoy this part!  
> Thanks for the kudos and stuff, cya in the endnotes!

exposition  
noun  
UK /ˌek.spəˈzɪʃ.ən/ US /ˌek.spəˈzɪʃ.ən/

[ C or U ] formal   
a clear and full explanation of an idea or theory:   
It purports to be an exposition of Catholic social teaching. 

-_-_-_-_-_-

Makoto sat awkwardly at the table, trying not to tremble in the presence of the man before him. He'd only heard of the infamous Tanaka Gundham from his elder brother's and their friend's tales, none of which seemed to do justice to the dark-haired man that he saw before him. His aura was overwhelming, engulfing all the air around him darkness and terror and scaring off everyone who dared to come near. The vibe Tanaka gave off was almost contradictory to the aura Sonia had, it was almost jarring. He was shocked out of his fear by the sound of teaware hitting the table, accompanied by a shocking scent of motor oil.

"Oh hi, Makoto," the source of the noise smiled, "Long time no see." 

"Hi, Souda," Naegi smiled back at the mechanic, recognising his brother's soul friend from many past meetups. 

Souda frowned, "I keep telling ya to call me Kazuichi, any sibling of Hajime's is a sibling of mine." his frown melted into a smile as he continued, "Ya here for Sonia's pep talk?"

"I wouldn't call it that," Sonia chuckled, "it's more of an explanation."

"Whatever you say, why'd this need to happen at our place anyway?" 

Gundham turns away from his scarf, "The pink-haired one makes a good point, the lustful one and the computer mage were over just a few hours ago, the stench of their presence is yet to leave."

"That's not what I was going for..." Souda grumbled, filling Sonia's teacup while he did.

Sonia nodded in appreciation as she answered the breeder's question, "It's because of their familiarity with Kazuichi, I thought they'd be more comfortable if they at least knew one of their hosts."

"And tea."

"You caught me." she giggled, turning to the pair of high schoolers and continuing to speak "Back to the topic of discussion, magical people!" "Is there anything specific you'd like to know?"

"No," Aoi shakes her head and looks at Makoto, who had ceased his fear after Souda had joined them at the table. 

"Neither."

"Okay, then we shall proceed." Sonia reaches into her bag, lifting out a teardrop-shaped ornament out of her handbag. "Do you know Monokuma?" 

Asahina blinked "Monokuma?"

"Ah, that'll be a problem." Sonia chuckled, placing the object on the table and scrunching her eyebrows in thought.

"Maybe you could bring them here?" Naegi questioned as he sipped on his tea.

Sonia blinked, "Huh?"

"I've met them before; I can confirm they're hard to describe so maybe bringing them here will make it easier to explain."

"That's a great idea, Naegi-kun!" she grinned, clapping her hand together "I'll contact him right away." After a moment of silence, a familiar black and white bear (who Makoto could finally identify as Monokuma) popped into the air from oblivion. This action caused Souda to squeak in a very manly manner, of course, but that's not important.

"Hello!" Monokuma grinned "I heard my glorious students needed my assistance, I just had to come to help them!"

"What the fuck is that!" Souda exclaimed, looking a bit too shaken for the situation they were in.

"You don't know who I am?" Monokuma tuts, seemingly on a script "Poor, sweet child. I am Monokuma, the leader of this fine organisation!"

Asahina raised an eyebrow. "Organisation?"

"You really don't know?" Monokuma gasped, feeling violated by such a travesty "How did you make it this far without knowing! And I thought Nagito was lucky."

"Lady Sonia, who is this?" Gundham questioned, subtly preparing to summon Grizner from her mortal realm. 

This seemed to annoy Monokuma as he began to shout at them "I told you already, I'm Monokuma!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're Monokuma." Souda whined, "What do ya have to do with all this?"

"I'm the leader of this organisation!"

Makoto tilted his head, "I thought that was Ouma-kun."

Sonia sighed "It technically is,"

"Then why is this teddy bear claiming to be the leader?" Kazuichi cried at Sonia, longing for an explanation. 

"Because he gave us our powers, which are stored in our soul gems, in exchange for anything we wish."

"Exactly!" Monokuma cried, now even more annoyed. "I am your creator! I am your leader! I am not a teddy bear! Respect me!" He throws his hands up in exasperation, "Anyway, Sonia," he sighs, rubbing his head as if he had a headache. "Are you recruiting our little hope boy?"

"No, I'm simply informing him and his friend about our situation."

"Boring boring," Monokuma grumbled, "Get it over and done with so I can recruit him."

"As you wish." Sonia nods. "Our soul gems are the epicentre of our powers, so we keep them close at all times. When we use our magic, our soul gems cloud up - when one's soul gem is doesn't retain its original colour, the user dies. A person's abilities are based on their wish, for example, mine is endurance based, Kaede's music-based, Nagito's is luck based, Byakuya's seemed to be created around the concept of time, Kokichi's are deception-based and many more. Soul gems transform to be part of our outfits when we change, you may have seen mine on my bow or Amami-kun's on his ring. The rest is classic magical girl features, any questions before I continue?" 

"Get on with it!" Monokuma cried.

"Continuing, we fight creatures called witches. Though their origins are unknown, we know they produce grief seeds, which clear up our soul gems. Witches can create familiars, who will eventually also become witches. We fight witches because they cause natural disasters, unexplained murders, mass suicides along with other things. Does that make sense?"

"Quit asking if they understand!"

"Okay, the final thing I have to explain is the Future Foundation. Is that correct?" Sonia turns to the bear and smiles.

"Yip yip that's right!"

"The Future Foundation is a collaboration of magical people worldwide, there is a branch in almost every country around the world, the Japanese one is DICE." Sonia detailed, placing down her cup as she did so. "DICE is split up into 13 sections (pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black, brown, white, cyan and magenta) which are set up into the four suits of a deck of cards. These are again split up into the 13 different cards in a deck. This results in an overall of 676 teams. Each prefecture in Japan has one coloured suit (with a few exceptions), and every magical person you're likely to meet will be a violet diamond. Any,"

"Yes, yes, any questions." Monokuma muttered, waving his hands in the air "Get on with it."

"Is Ouma-kun the leader of this organisation?" Makoto enquired.

"Yes, he's the head of the Japanese section, he's also in the governing board." Sonia answered, causing Aoi to giggle, "Togami-san, Kirigiri-san and I are also on the governing board since each country needs five representatives." The last bit could have been added in reassurance, but Makoto would never know.

Aoi, who had stopped giggling, raised her hands and began to count. Realising that they were missing a person, "Who's the fifth representative?"

"Shinguji-san." 

There was silence.

"Stop being quiet!" Monokuma shouted, still in a bad mood, "Sonia's finished her talk now, I'm going to do my recruitment!" He spins around at the speed of light to face Makoto and point at him, "You, Makoto Naegi, are the Ultimate Hope!"

Naegi blinked "What?"

"Ultimate Hope? Like an ultimate talent? From Danganronpa?" Asahina raised her finger to her face in consideration "I didn't expect Monokuma to be a fan Danganronpa, though he does look a bit like Monomi."

"Yup!" Monokuma grinned "And out little Makoto here is the ultimate hope."

"Hope?" Makoto whispered, still confused. Well, he'd been confused for a while, so it wasn't new to him. 

"Hope!" the bear repeated "Geez, I'll explain it! Since the name isn't enough for you idiots to understand." Monokuma plods towards Makoto and looks directly up to him "It's the one thing that you're the best at, according to my magical scouting skills; I only scout ultimates since they have the power needed to whoop some witch ass. Doughnut over here is the ultimate swimmer," Aoi's flinch went unnoticed. "Sonia is the ultimate princess, your little boyfriend is the ultimate affluent progeny, you're the ultimate hope."

"Affluent progeny?" Sonia asked, laughing at the idea "Rich kid? That suits him."

"How can you be the best at hope?" Makoto sought, his confusion still very evident.

"Beats me, kid," Monokuma sighed "The point is, you'd make a fabulous magical boy because all that positivity you have will convert into some brilliant powers!" The bear hops onto the table and points at the boy once more, "Now, will you work for me?"

Makoto looked at the bear uncomfortably, he didn't want to make such a big decision on the spot. He needed time to think, he needed time to think last night and he still needed it now. It was clear that the bear would keep annoying him until he said yes, though, so he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It wasn't pleasant. The Aoi, the amazing friend she is, chimes in and saves him from his discomfort:

"We can intern!"

Monokuma laughed, "What?"

"Like we follow some magical people around to get the gist of the work before deciding to join."

Monokuma thinks for a second before nodding, "That works, you have until to the end of this month to decide. Good luck." then Monokuma disappears. 

Aoi smiles at the empty space the bear left, "I have a feeling he was ignoring me."

"Ya think?" Souda grinned back, "He definitely wants Makoto."

"Kazuichi," Makoto sighed, smiling at the older.

"There ya go," Souda grins, messing with the shorters hair, "It isn't that hard to call me my first name."  
-_-_-_-_-_-

Somewhere else, not so far away, Ouma Kokichi can be seen skipping into a room with a violet king of diamonds on the door. He swings to door open, grinning widely and opening his mouth to greet its inhabitants when he senses a distinct solemnness in the room. Which he, of course, approaches with the most tact possible for a supreme leader such as himself:

"Geez who died in here?"

Rantaro chuckled softly, shaking his head as he looked at the other, "It's beyond me how you're still able to say that after everything that's happened."

"You think this is bad?" Kokichi sneered back "That just proves how weak you are, Nii-san, we haven't reached the tip of it yet." 

Nagito, who up until that point had been sitting quietly while playing with his nails, chimed in. "Oh yes, what was it." he raises his finger to his chin before continuing, "World domination, right?"

"I think he was alluding towards Enoshima."

"Ah, my mistake."

Ouma surveyed the room again, pinpointing his eyes on the newcomer and bounding towards him, "I've got it!" he shouts in faux excitement, "It's that Makoto guy, right? The one who found out about the organisation?" Byakuya's eyes widened at that, "I knew it! Did he die? Silence? Well, okay, I'll just go ask him myself."

Togami's eyes thinned, "What do you think you're doing?"

The leader waved the other off, "I have to go kill to him anyway since someone blabbed, so I thought I would ask him while I do so!" just as Kokichi placed his hand on the doorknob, Byakuya was in front of him. Blocking his way and slipping a hand into his pocket - a subliminal threat in some ways - as he towered other him. "Geez, you actually care about him, don't you? That's pathetic."

"No," Byakuya hissed "I just don't want our supreme leader going off to kill his boyfriend's brother." 

"How?"

He rolled his eyes, "You don't exactly keep it secret."

Kokichi gritted his teeth, "You know what I mean."

"I, in fact, don't know what you mean."

"Fine, play dumb then." Ouma seethed, turning away from Byakuya and skipping towards a window and climbing onto the ledge, "I wasn't going to kill your dumb boyfriend anyway, bye losers. Your pathetic presence is melting my brain cells." he pauses "Oh and Rantaro? I haven't forgotten that you disobeyed me, I'll come and dye your hair black later! How does six do? Great, then I'll be going. Ciao!" Then he hopped out of the window. 

A silence falls over the room, as Nagito and Rantaro exchanged looks,

Nagito mumbled a: "I'll make sure he doesn't die." before jumping out of the same window Kokichi had left from and landing carefully on the roof next to them. 

"You should stop worrying," Byakuya grumbled, "This is far from the first time he's jumped out of that window when he was upset." Rantaro blinked, turning to Togami with concern in his eyes. Ouma hadn't jumped out of the window in a month, Byakuya joined their group just under a week ago. How did he know that? 

Amami blinked, deciding to go along with the older, calling him didn't seem like the best idea. "Yea, I guess so."

-_-_-_-_-_-

As Kokichi skipped along the rooftops, wandering aimlessly, as he tried to figure out:

How on earth did Byakuya know so much?

"Hey, Kokichi," Nagito calls out to the shorter, sitting on the edge of the rooftop and motioning for the other to sit next to him "You should stop that, it worries Rantaro."

"That's his fault." Ouma complains as he sits next to his friend, "Hey, Nagi-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Don't you think Byakuya knows too much?" he says in a voice laced with exasperation, "You know for a person who met us a few days ago?"

"I suppose so," Komaeda nods in understanding, before turning to look at Kokichi who had begun swinging his legs "He has met you before, at board meetings?"

"No, we take turns."

"Ah,"

"Forget it," the younger dismisses, starting to stand up "It's nothing."

"No, I get it," Nagito smiles, tilting his head as he tried to come up with an explanation "Maybe he's a time traveller?"

Kokichi looks at the taller blankly before he begins to cackle, "You crazy?" he laughs, widely grinning as he settles down again. "That's impossible, the idiot probably stalks us."

Nagito takes on a fond look as he continues, "I think it's a possibility, considering his abilities."

"Even if it was possible," Ouma waves him off, looking off into the distance "Who'd want to come back to this shithole?"

"I don't know, just thinking."

"You should do it less," He complained, "it's freaky when you're not freaking out about Hajime or hope or something." 

Nagito blinked, "Is it?"

"Yea."

"I'm sorry." Nagito apologised with surprising finality.

Ouma raised an eyebrow at the shortness of the apology, "No 'trash like me' rant?"

"No," Komaeda laughed self-deprecatingly "Hajime'd be disappointed in me."

"You're such a simp Nagi-chan!" Ouma sang at his colleague, making obnoxious kissy noises and drawing a heart in the air. 

"Sparkling Justice." 

Ouma's hands dropped quickly "We don't talk about that."

"Sure,"

-_-_-_-_-_-

Makoto sits in his room, staring at the picture on his bedside table. He didn't know why but the portrait had always brought him a sort of comfort, like a warm hug, so staring at it in his situation felt the same as having two long arms embracing him. So he stared, letting mindless thoughts run through his head as he tried to fall asleep. Thinking about his friends, family, magical people, Monokuma, Byakuya, the number of sides on 2D shapes, anything really. Anything to get him to sleep. Tomorrow he and Aoi were joining Akamatsu and Sonia on patrol and if what he's seen is any indication,

He was going to need it. 

-_-_-_-_-_-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elloelloello!  
> Sparkling Justice doesn't relate to Peko, don't worry. I did just write not one not three but two of the three danganronpa antagonists jumping out of a window and I've never been happier XD. Oh, I got the idea for having them be 'ultimates' half from Complete_Otakuness and half from the fact I just wanted Monokuma to say that so complete credit for that idea to Complete_Otakuness! (still no ultimate talents, it's just a recruiting technique monokuma uses to make them feel special since he's nice like that)  
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Thank you for the kudos and stuff and with that:  
> Bye Felica!
> 
> Edit to end note


	11. Recrudescence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of how Naegi Makoto gets stuck with two lunatics, a billionaire and an adventurer for just under a month. (ft Sayaka failing to play chess).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, 
> 
> Sorry for the wait. I would have posted at least one more chapter normally by now but I haven't been motivated enough recently to do it. Thank goodness for the third part in December or I would feel even worse, but since 3 is over my monthly average (which is 2, I did the maths) I at least feel like I'm up to date to my non-existent update schedule. On that note, while I was gone I've mostly mastered the act of beating Grammarly's algorithm and now I can't tell if my writing is good or "Grammatically correct and not wordy."
> 
> Oh, I thought I'd put it here. **All the OCs I have in this fic are for plot/background purposes,** it makes more sense once you know what they're doing but for now, I promise I'm not self-inserting XD. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all are well and that you enjoy this part.  
> Thank you for reading this far,  
> Thank you for the kudos and stuff  
> And see you in the endnotes!

recrudescence

noun [ U ]

formalUK /ˌriː.kruːˈdes.əns/ US /ˌriː.kruːˈdes.əns/

a sudden new appearance and growth, especially of something dangerous and unpleasant:

There has been an unwelcome recrudescence of racist attacks.

-_-_-_-_-_- 

The weather was better today. The skies were clear; the breeze was weak. Sayaka was sure it was freezing outside, considering the time of year, but the world looked almost silent. Hatanaka-san (who she had resorted to referring to by her surname because the nickname "Maddy" felt too intimate and didn't make sense) was kind to her, talking to her quietly as she came to check on her wounds and transport her to therapy. Sayaka had wanted to do this by herself since she didn't want a wheelchair attendee when she got out; Hatanaka put on a stern face and told Sayaka that the girl could self-manoeuvre when she got out; managers orders. She didn't mind it. Even with her impending return to the real world, Sayaka hadn't been particularly busy. Sure, she'd seen her manager discuss whether or not she'd like to go back to performing and she'd been talking to people to make sure the necessary accessibility help was in place at places she'd frequent, she hadn't done anything. Not really. So when a pair of teenagers (one with strawberry blonde hair around her age and a guy with dark hair who may have been slightly older) came into her room offering a game of chess, she was beyond ecstatic.

Well, she thinks she was.

They'd entered her room, the taller blonde with a ponytail declaring that she had been chosen for their legendary chess game while the younger followed silently. The boy held a chessboard and pieces and introduced himself as Yasuke Matsuda. Matsuda said he'd be monitoring their game as the blonde woman (acquainted as Otanashi Ryoko) tended to cheat but would not be taking part. Ryoko had grinned at her, exchanging greetings hurridly and setting out the chessboard, declaring they'd play a best of 31 (whoever won the most games that month would win overall) and she'd be returning daily. Ryoko had blonde hair, big blue eyes and long eyelashes. She had a clear face, clean of blemishes or even simple things like freckles and wore a modest sweater and jeans. She looked almost like a librarian, with glasses perched on her nose and her ponytail both neat and messy. She was pretty, and smart too (she'd said she was a journalist and Ryoko noted down things from their non-conventional interview in her notebook) and always had a bright grin on her face. She reminded Sayaka of someone, but she couldn't quite place who.

The boy, Matsuda, was quiet. He silently sat as Ryoko set up their game and observed the girl closely. He had dark hair that rested near his shoulders and pale skin with almost black eyes shone apathetically from her face. He wore a plain white shirt and some jeans and had an overall apathetic atmosphere around him. He seemed acquainted with Maddy, the nurse current overseeing her ward, as he received a sweet and familiar greeting when the other entered the room to tend to another patient - and said he worked as a neuroscientist. He quickly explained that the pair had gone to school together and had stayed in contact, though the last bit slightly delayed after the first. Ryoko had then begun to declare that they were lovers and had dedicated their lives to each other (which the taller turned down quickly) before they finally settled into their game.

Matsuda had had to teach her how to play chess. She'd played before, she was sure of it, but she couldn't place the memory of learning the rules so had to relearn. There was an odd sense of deja vu when Sayaka played as if Sayaka had once sat down for hours before and played to her heart's content. 

She couldn't remember when.

Sayaka had lost that game, badly. Though Matsuda had flicked Ryoko's head, chastising her for being proud of her win since "Maizono-san has never played before" and it was barely a reason to feel pride. He'd then proceeded to ignore the pair, taking out a manga he'd, allegedly, had the whole time, before following a rather happy Otanashi out of the room, mumbling something about Junko and analysis to Maddy when she passed by. Giving her a quick nod and leaving.

Junko. Where did she know that name?

It didn't matter, anyway, she had more important things to be doing. Like asking Aoi how on earth did she play chess.

-_-_-_-_-_- 

Makoto and Aoi stood in the street of a mini-city, much to Byakuya's displeasure. It was vibrant, lights everywhere illuminating the area; the sounds of people buzzing through their daily lives filled his ears.

Aoi blinked, taking in the view and laughing in shock, "How in Atua's name did they hide this?"

"We just kill anyone who comes in!" a familiar voice came from above them. The one and only supreme leader, Ouma Kokichi, lands gracefully before them. He donned in all white outfit resembling medieval jester-wear, with a range of coloured buttons and straps all over his clothing (a purple one near his waist being the biggest and brightest). He held a clown painted masquerade mask as he skipped towards them grinning. "That means we'll have to kill you!" He paused for a second, looking Aoi in the eye intently before breaking into a grin and laughing, "It's a lie!" He flicked his wrist revealing a less extravagant base (still massive, just not a big as the scene prior) that was not nearly as bright and vibrant. Magical people travelled in small groups (ranging from around two to six), talking among themselves. It was a far cry from the miniature city they'd seen earlier.

Sonia nodded at the younger, a look for acknowledgement on her face as she spoke to him. "I wasn't aware you could simultaneously project visual and auditory illusions, that's truly impressive."

"It's just a cheap parlour trick, basically useless," Byakuya grumbled from his newly taken position at the bottom of the stairs, frowning at the shorter is disappointed exasperation. "It also drains a notable amount of his magic, a truly moronic show." 

"Geez buzzkill, I used a little magic. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that we have an assignment and you're wasting your magic on parlour tricks." The blonde threw a dark seed-like object at the shorter, not even looking to see if he caught it as he turned away from them. "Take that, though it won't stop you from being an idiot at least it'll secure your survival today. Now, if you have finished, we have to leave." He stalked off away from them, clearly expecting the shorter to follow him as he did so.

"Sadly, friends, duty calls," Ouma announced, turning around and running to catch up with the blonde. "Bye."

They'd wandered around for a bit after Ouma left, Kaede joining their group as they did so when they ran into a girl with silver hair. She was around Aoi's age, wearing a simple grey dress and blazer with a purple ring on her left hand. "Oh Kirigiri-san," Sonia greeted the girl, smiling as she spoke. "I wasn't expecting you to be in town today." 

The girl nodded at Sonia, "There have been some altercations to the plan for you know who so I came to oversee them." she glanced over Makoto and Aoi, giving them an indiscernible look before returning her sight to Sonia.

"Ah, then I shouldn't interrupt you, go on your way." Sonia smiled, gesturing for the other to leave as she did so. The girl, previously noted as Kirigiri, turned away from them and began in the direction Ouma and Togami had exited in earlier.

Sonia watched the girl as she left before turning to the pair, still smiling as she spoke: "Would you like to get through the introductions?"

Asahina grinned, "That sounds great."

-_-_-_-_-_-

The woman looks Makoto up and down, analysing him with critical eyes and bursting into rolls of laughter. "This is the one Monokuma wouldn't shut up about?" she giggles, holding her stomach in her amusement "You're kidding! He's just a kid?"

Sonia sighs as if she's heard this dozens of time, which she has, "Monokuma has quite the track record of recruiting younger people."

"Yea, because they're too excited to be magical to decline it."

"I don't know what you mean." Sonia blinks at the woman, clearly confused at the statement.

"It's nothing, just my years taking a toll on me." The lady waved them off, turning around and waving at the three. "Good luck, kids."

Aoi watches the woman walk away before turning to Makoto, filling their silence she had left in her leave. "She's nice."

"She's the last of the local squads you'll have to meet," Sonia reassures, leader the pair to another room "We can assign you two to a mentor now." She pauses to chuckle, "If you're lucky, you'll get someone nice."

That's how Naegi Makoto gets stuck with two lunatics, a billionaire and a traveller for just under a month. Let's just say the combined debate skills of Ouma, Togami and (surprisingly) Komaeda is nothing to be messed with (Amami helped too.)

-_-_-_-_-_-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ad astra abyssoque!  
> The word of the chapter is recrudescence, which is a new beginning, specifically of something negative. Take the negativity how you want :).  
> Sorry for the length, it's a bit short compared to the past 3 but a mix of pour mental health and writers block has kept me trying and failing to write this part for literally a month XD.  
> Regardless, thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kudos and stuff  
> And with that:  
> I can't think of a genshin reference for the farewell soooooooooooooo...  
> Remember, reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold! Byeeeeeee! :)  
> Minor edits because I'm an idiot and forgot to post the updated draft (; -_-)  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> {}{}{}{}{}  
> Hi again!  
> Thank you for reading all the way here!  
> As you can see, I won't be straying too far away from the original show but I hope (ha) you still see value in reading this!  
> Writing Kuma as a nice and helpful character is going to be interesting (or has been, depending on when you see this -u-;), but you gotta do it all for that mascot potential XD  
> Thank you once again for reading this far!  
> I hope you have a wonderful day!  
> Goodbye!  
> {}{}{}{}{}

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Byakuya throws Makoto's soul gem out a window and regrets everything](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581951) by [Complete_Otakuness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Complete_Otakuness/pseuds/Complete_Otakuness)




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